@3 CHIPPING SQUIRREL. 



fence, his chops distended by the nuts he has gathered in the woods ; he 

 makes no pause till he reaches the entrance of his subterranean retreat 

 and store-house. Now he stands upright, and his chattering cry is heard, 

 but at the first step we make towards him, he disappears. Stone after 

 stone we remove from the aperture leading to his deep and circviitous 

 burrow ; but in vain is all our labour — with our hatchets we cut the 

 tangled roots, and as we follow the animal, patiently digging into his in- 

 nermost retreat, we hear his angry, querulous tones. We get within a 

 few inches of him now, and can already see his large dark eyes ; but at 

 this moment out he rushes, and ere we can " grab " him, has passed us, 

 and finds security in some other hiding place, of which there are always 

 plenty at hand, that he is well accustomed to fly to ; and we willingly 

 leave him unmolested, to congratulate himself on his escape. 



The Chipping Squirrel makes his burrow generally near the roots of 

 trees, in the centre of a de . ayed stump, along fences or old walls, or in 

 some bank, near the woods whence he obtains the greater portion of his 

 food. 



Some of these retreats have two or three openings, at a little distance 

 from each other. It rarely happens that this animal is caught by digging 

 out its burrow. When hard pressed and closely pursued, it will betake 

 itself to a tree, the trunk of which it ascends for a little distance with 

 considerable rapidity, occasionally concealing itself behind a large branch, 

 but generally stopping within twelve or fifteen feet of the ground, 

 where it often clings, with its body so closely pressed to the trunk, that it 

 is difficult to detect it ; and it remains so immoveable that it appears like 

 a piece of bark or some excrescence, till the enemy has retired from the 

 vicinity, when it once more descends, and by its renewed clucking, seems 

 to chuckle over its escape. 



We are doubtful whether this species can at any time be perfectly 

 tamed. We have preserved it in cages from time to time, and generally 

 found it wild and sullen. Those we had, however, were not yoimg when 

 captured. 



At a subsequent period we obtained in the State of New York, five 

 or six young ones almost half grown. We removed them to Carolina, 

 where they were kept during winter and spring. They were somewhat 

 more gentle than those we had formerly possessed, occasionally took a 

 filbert or a ground-nut from the fingers, but never became tame enough 

 to be handled with safety, as they on more than one occasion were dis- 

 posed to test the sharpness of their teeth on our hand. 



The skin which covered the vertebrae of their tails was so brittle that 

 nearly all of them soon had mutilated them. They appeared to have some 



