216 GNAWING ANIMALS 



CHIPMUNK (Tamias striatus}. 

 Plate XXIV. Fig. 3. 



The true Ground Squirrels, of which the North American 

 Chipmunk is the best known, are, first and foremost, bur- 

 rowers ; but they are equally at home in whisking about 

 brushwood and small timber. The animal is also known 

 as the Hackee, or Chipping Squirrel. This last name is 

 gained from the animal's little cry, like the chip-chipping 

 of a newly hatched chicken. It is a beautiful creature in 

 form and colour, and, including its tail, is just under a foot 

 in length. On the back the fur is brownish-grey, warming 

 into orange-brown on the forehead and hindquarters ; 

 upon the sides are stripes of black and yellowish-white ; 

 but the colours vary considerably, being generally lighter 

 in the north. If only the fur were less common and more 

 difficult to obtain, it might easily take as high a rank as 

 sable or ermine. 



The American Ground Squirrel extends roughly from 

 the St. Lawrence and Manitoba as far south as Missouri 

 and Georgia ; and what is practically the same animal is 

 found in the north-east of Europe and across Northern 

 Asia. They live in burrows deep enough to afford pro- 

 tection from the severe cold in winter. Most of these 

 burrowing squirrels have cheek pouches, which are speci- 

 ally useful when the animals are storing up food for winter 

 use. They have very liberal ideas of what their needs 

 will be during their retirement, and though it is hard work 

 to dig the animals out of the frozen ground in Siberia, for 

 example the poor natives are satisfied with the hoard of 

 nuts and roots which usually rewards them for their 

 trouble. 



Being ground-dwellers, the Chipmunk and its various 

 relations are always liable to be raided by birds of prey 

 and various of the carnivores ; but the female breeds 

 twice a year, and thus the animals abound sufficiently 

 to migrate in quite large bodies when the food supply 

 of any region makes it advisable for them to change 

 their quarters. 



