January, 1921] 



The Caxadiax Fikld-Xatiralist. 



19 



Hemlock stump at the edge of the woods 

 near my camp I i)la('ed kernels of corn 

 and raisins on top of the stump, and was 

 rewarded not only by one Chipmunk com- 

 ing to carry off the i"ood but thrrr, and this 

 gave me an opportunity to make a few ob- 

 servations on the so(;ial behaviour of tliis 

 species. Two of those C*hipraunks • were 

 very similar in size and coloration, the 

 only differeiu'e boiuji' that the stripes on 

 the side of the head of one were slightly 

 more distinct than those of the other, ])ut 

 the third was easily distinguishable l)y its 

 duller coloration, slightly larger size and 

 the obscnreness of the stripes on the -sick of 

 the head. I shall call them Nos. 1, 2 and 

 3, in the order named above. 



No. 1 arid No. 2 ^vere very friendly and 

 on one occasion I saw them rub noses. No. 

 3 was not amiably disposed towards the 

 others and if either of them were on the 

 stump when it ai'rived it chased them away. 

 Sometimes pursued and pursuer would go 

 round and round the stump like a flasli of 

 light, ■ exhibiting marvellous agility in 

 racing about on its smooth sides. In tlieir 

 general manner Nos. 1 and 2 were much 

 alike, and neither of th-em paid much at- 

 tention to me, even when quite close at 

 hand, once they had overcome their first 

 shyness; but No." 3 was always "jumpy" 

 and was not noticeably tamer at the end oF 

 the period of ob.servation than at the be- 

 ginning. No. 1 was the mo.st confiding of 

 the three, and on the third day allowed me 

 to approach within a foot of it, while on 

 the ninth day it took food from my hand. 



Yellow- jackets {Vespula diabolica) were 

 extremely abundant, and many came to 

 feed on the raisins and boiled corn that I 

 placed on the stum]) for the Chipmunks. 

 One day No. 2 was stung on the front paw 

 and shook it violently, then licked it. 



I have seen it asserted that the Chip- 

 munk is a poor climber, and that it rarely 

 ascends trees. Though from past observa- 

 tions 1 knew this to be untrue, I determined 

 to put the climbing ability of this species 

 to a fairly severe test. Making a stake 

 from a very smooth pole of Paper Birch 

 five inches in diameter. I di-ove the stake 

 into the to]) of the stulnp, then fastened 

 kernels of corn at intervals uji the stake 

 and placed some corn on the top of the 

 stake. No. 1 came along, climbed the .stake, 



taking the kernels oii its side jis it wt-rit 

 up, and sittintr up on the top filled its 

 l)ouches with the corn it found there. Next 

 time it came it hunted over the top of the 

 stump, and finding no corn there, clinibefl 

 the stake and took the sui)ply 1 had placed 

 there. Thus this little experiment not only 

 showed the clindjing ability of this species, 

 and enal)Ied me to take a i)hotofrra])h of it 

 in the act of cliiutiinfr, but also gave another 

 example, in addition to that reported last 

 year, of the rapidity with whicii the Cliip- 

 niunk forms associations. 



Do Chipmvniks habitually climb to se- 

 cure any of their items of food .' In the 

 case of Hazel-nuts (Coyijlus rosfrato) they 

 certainly do, as the Chipmunks I had under 

 observation climbed the^e -shrubs, cut off 

 the nuts and carried them away. More- 

 over they do not appear to waste any time 

 cutting off bad nuts, as all the nuts left on 

 these bushes after the Chipmunks had 

 visited them proved on examination to be 

 bad. How they distinguish pfood from bad 

 nuts, and how they deal Avith these nuts 

 in removing the hulls which are beset so 

 thickly with irritating bristles which stick 

 tenaciously in the human ■skin, are among 

 the few thousand things we do not know 

 about our common wild mammals. 



A. Broqkkr Kligh. 



Archaeological Evidence Concerning 

 THE Presence of the Gray Fox {Vrocyon 

 sp.) in O.ntario. — Among the animal re- 

 mains found during my exploration last 

 summer of the T'ren village site in South 

 Norwich township, Oxford county. Ont- 

 ario, are several lower jaws and part of a 

 skull which Dr. Gerritt S. Miller, curator 

 of the Division of Mammals, V. S. National 

 Museum, has identified as those of the Gray 

 Fox {Vrocijon). While bones of this ani- 

 mal have been found by arcluvologists in 

 Ohio, ' Pennsylvania, - and Connecticut, ' 

 this discovery in Oxford county is prob- 

 ably the only record of its presence in Ont- 

 ario, beyond the vague statement by Au- 

 dubon and Rachman that "in Canada we 

 have heard of its occasional, but rare ap- 

 pearance." * 



The Gray Fox seems to have been as 

 common as the Red Fox, of which Ave also 

 found several bones, but it probably never 



