UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
leaves his finished den, but out of the larger work- 
hole through which the soil was removed, and which 
is finally stopped up and obliterated. 
I happened to discover my chipmunk probably 
the second day after he had begun to dig. Some 
people were calling on me at my bush camp when, 
as they turned to go, one of them said, “See that 
chipmunk!” I looked and saw him sitting up amid 
a little fresh earth, washing his face. His face cer- 
tainly needed washing; it was so soiled it looked 
comical. Presently I investigated the spot and 
found a rude hole a few inches deep, with the loos- 
ened earth in front of it. “Evidently a greenhorn,” 
I said; ‘‘a pretty dooryard he will have by the time 
he finishes, with a hole big enough to admit a red 
squirrel!” 
Next morning there was more fresh earth in front 
of the hole; indeed, the grass was full of it a foot or 
more away, and a dump-pile had just been begun. 
From the hole to this pile there was a deep, wide 
groove in the loose soil, which I soon saw was made 
by the squirrel shoving the loosened earth from the 
hole to the dump, using his nose as a shovel. Day 
after day, for nearly a week thereafter, I saw him at 
work, digging and pushing the soil up to the mouth 
of his hole, and then pushing it along this groove or 
channel to the dump-heap. His movements were so 
quick and energetic that, at the final stroke, the soil, 
a half-teaspoonful or more, would shoot from his 
80 
