AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMITE 199 



Before the pine-nuts are ripe, grass seeds and 

 those of the many species of ceanothus, with 

 strawberries, raspberries, and the soft red thim- 

 bleberries of Rubus nutkanus, form the bulk of 

 his food, and a neater eater is not to be found 

 in the mountains. Bees powdered with pollen, 

 poking their blunt noses into the bells of flowers, 

 are comparatively clumsy and boorish. Frisking 

 along some fallen pine or fir, when the grass 

 seeds are ripe, he looks about him, considering 

 which of the tufts he sees is likely to have the 

 best, runs out to it, selects what he thinks is sure 

 to be a good head, cuts it off, carries it to the top 

 of the log, sits upright and nibbles out the grain 

 without getting awns in his mouth, turning 

 the head round, holding it and fingering it as if 

 playing on a flute ; then skips for another and 

 another, bringing them to the same dining-log. 



The woodchuck (Arctomys monax) dwells 

 on high bleak ridges and boulder piles ; and 

 a very different sort of mountaineer is he, — 

 bulky, fat, aldermanic, and fairly bloated at 

 times by hearty indulgence in the lush pastures 

 of his airy home. And yet he is by no means a 

 dull animal. In the midst of what we regard as 

 storm-beaten desolation, high in the frosty air, 

 beside the glaciers he pipes and whistles right 

 cheerily and lives to a good old age. If you are 

 as early a riser as he is, you may oftentimes see 

 him come blinking out of his burrow to meet the 



