248 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



do not do it would require a much longer time to com- 

 plete a burrow, say fifteen feet in length and with a 

 magazine for winter food of an area of one cubic foot, 

 than is really consumed in the construction of such a 

 subterranean home. 



I have dispossessed chipmunks of their burrows and 

 found that they made for themselves others in the course 

 of a night the length of such varying with the charac- 

 ter of the soil in which they burrowed. I am free to 

 admit that it seems quite impossible for an animal to 

 penetrate the earth by pressing it from side to side as it 

 progresses ; and yet there seems to be no other method 

 open to them after an ingress of a foot or more has been 

 effected. The diameter of the burrow is simply suffi- 

 cient for the animal to proceed forward. It cannot turn 

 about and reach the entrance face forward. In burrow- 

 ing, therefore, the earth detached by the fore -paws is 

 forced under the belly, and it is to be supposed that this 

 loose material can be continually collected by the animal 

 in a pellet and pushed forward towards the entrance of 

 the tunnel by the animal's hind-feet, as it slowly backs 

 out, and often turning two or three corners. This ab- 

 surdity has been seriously claimed as what must neces- 

 sarily take place. I will not pretend to explain the 

 methods of a chipmunk when burrowing, but that it is 

 essentially different from the above supposed method I 

 am confident. 



As bearing upon this, let me refer to what I have 

 witnessed in the case of a land-tortoise when preparing 

 to go into winter-quarters. It was one that I had had 

 in my yard for several years. Twice I saw it preparing 



