A CLEVER BEASTIE 



a little excitement that he relishes. I find more of 

 their dens along highways than anywhere else. 



The chipmunk is one of the most provident of 

 our wild creatures. Neither the red nor the gray 

 squirrel regularly stores up a winter supply of food, 

 although at times the red seems to do so in a tenta- 

 tive, uncertain kind of way, but not with the unmis- 

 takable provident purpose of the chipmunk when 

 it stores up food. You will see both of them in the 

 fall carrying nuts from the trees and hiding them 

 here and there under the leaves and grass, but it is 

 doubtful whether they ever seek them again for 

 food. What they are really doing is unwittingly 

 planting oak and chestnut and hickory trees. 

 Nature seems to utilize their love of nuts for her 

 own purpose, as she does that of the crows and 

 jays. 



But the chipmunk is rarely a tree-planter. He is 

 absorbed in his own economies. He has two capa- 

 cious cheek pockets that are invaluable to him, and 

 those pockets have a power that ordinary pockets 

 do not possess — the power of deglutition, and also 

 the power to reverse the process. The pockets liter- 

 ally swallow the grains and nuts and as literally dis- 

 gorge them. An acorn or other nut too large for his 

 pockets the chipmunk carries in his teeth. 



Early in the season, or as soon as he can find any 

 ripened seeds, the chipmunk begins to provide for 

 his winter needs. In my morning walks I usually 



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