104 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



months hibernating, but those on the Colorado 

 Desert are active all through the year. How- 

 ever, even there the cold mornings of winter 

 generally keep them in their burrows until nine 

 or ten o'clock or until the sun has warmed up 

 the rocks. They retire correspondingly early 

 in the afternoon. Only once have I known a 

 chipmunk to be out after dark. One evening 

 in January at about 7.30 o'clock I heard plainly 

 just outside my door the twittering, trill-like 

 call of an ammo. What could have been the 

 occasion for his being out at such a time must 

 be left to conjecture. 



Though these rodents can get along for un- 

 usually long periods without water, they enjoy 

 a drink as well as almost any animal when they 

 can get it. On the warm, dry summer days 

 they frequently come down to the little ditch 

 below my dwelling and, catlike, lap up the 

 water. Frequently after they have drank they 

 squat down on the sand and enjoy the shade 

 of the mesquites. Generally they take a belly- 

 down position with their little rear legs flat- 

 tened out behind them. This, too, is the posi- 

 tion they assume when during the heat of the 



