SMALL FOLK WITH LIVELY FEET. 273 



The Eastern chipmunk takes to his winter bed in 

 the ground as soon as the cold and frosty nights of 

 October come, and reappears again in March or 

 April. He is not a profound sleeper, however, and 

 often wakes up to "eat a bit." His abundant store 

 of nuts,* seeds, corn, and buckwheat is tucked away 

 underground where the red squirrel can not get at it, 

 and he passes tlie winter in peace and plenty, only 

 popping his nose above ground when the weather is 

 warm, to make sure that the world still " wags on." 



The tail of this little fellow is insignificant, his 

 body is much less athletic in its lines than that of the 

 red squirrel, and in every way he shows himself not a 

 climber. If he is scared in the forest, and takes ref- 

 uge in a maple, he clings helplessly to the bark some- 

 where about fifteen feet above the ground, and waits 

 without a motion for the danger to pass, descending 

 again spirally. 



He is not very timid, but I do not know that he is 

 very easily domesticated. He is constantly about in 

 my garden while I am at work there*; he feeds on the 

 sunflower seeds in the autumn while I stand within 

 five feet of him, and the children frequently feed him 

 with crusts of bread and cake at a respectful but 



* It is a matter of some surprise to me that he cares for the 

 clumsy big butternut ; but he often tackles one, and even carries 

 it to his hole. As a rule, however, he prefers seeds to nuts. 

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