A CLEVER BEASTIE 



grief; but at last she came scurrying back. Whether 

 or not her little earth castle was ever assaulted again 

 by the brigand from the bush I do not know. 



On both sides of my camp in the orchard, and not 

 more than fifty feet apart, two chipmunks had their 

 dens, and here I chanced to see one of them rifling 

 the stores of the other. This time I got the impres- 

 sion from the slight difference in size that the robber 

 was a female, but I am not certain. I had fed both 

 of them freely, but the female was the tamer and 

 gentler. She learned to come into my bush tent and 

 to pick up the grain at my feet, and finally to take 

 it from my hand. In going home with her ill-gotten 

 gains from her neighbor's stores, she did not trust 

 herself on the ground, but took a course through the 

 apple-trees and across the canvas roof of my camp, 

 and into her den that way. 



On one occasion I saw a chipmunk waylay her in 

 one of the apple-trees and make a savage drive at 

 her, but whether or not it was the owner of the 

 stores she was pilfering, I do not know. Chipmunks 

 all look so near alike that it is not always easy to 

 tell who 's v^ho in that community. 



In a den that a chipmunk excavated one Sep- 

 tember in a bank by the roadside I witnessed an- 

 other case of house-breaking. I saw a chipmunk 

 enter the hole when I knew the owner was at home. 

 I bent m.y ear above the ground for a moment to 

 take in, if I could, what was said. I soon heard an 



147 



