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Sierra Club Bulletin 



The chipmunks were also quite busy at this time hiding 

 things in the earth. It frequently happened that one was seen 

 digging nervously, first in one place, then in another, evidently 

 in search of something buried previously. But when found it 

 would, perhaps, be carried not more than three or four feet 

 away, to be covered up once more. A great deal of such hid- 

 ing was done, in an apparently aimless way, the objects con- 

 cealed barely beneath the surface of the ground, and not more 

 than one fragment at any one place. As provision for the win- 

 ter this would seem to an outsider as apt to be a failure when 

 the snow came, but presumably the chipmunks know how to 

 manage their own affairs. Then, too, on occasion they were 

 seen at work in rather more methodical fashion, the cache 

 being made at the base of a stump or rock that might serve for 

 a landmark later on, and the hole excavated to some little 

 depth. In filling the hole the dirt previously removed was 

 shoved back in by the extended fore paws, with a forward 

 thrust of the whole body. 



Alpine Chipmunks were found in great numbers in the re- 

 gion about Kearsarge Pass, on both sides of the divide. One 

 was seen within three hundred feet of the summit of Mount 

 Gould (13,000 feet altitude), and there is little doubt of their 

 ranging over all the higher peaks. We also found a few on 

 Mount Mitchell (near Horse Corral Meadow), where they are 

 restricted to the very summit of the mountain, hence forming 

 an isolated colony away from the rest of their kind. Doubtless 

 there are many such little communities in this section of the 

 Sierra Nevada, on the numerous alpine-arctic peaks rising 

 abruptly above the vast surrounding area of lower elevation. 



The tail action of the Alpine Chipmunk affords excellent 

 means of identifying the species. This consists of quick, ner- 

 vous upward jerks, constantly repeated, the tail curved slightly 

 upward, as shown in the picture. Other readily appreciable 

 features are found in the animal's small size (seven and a half 

 inches, or less, in total length) and its pale coloration, the areas 

 which in other species are brown being grayish in this one, and 

 the rufous areas faded out to a decidedly yellowish tinge. 



One other animal of this part of the Sierras is deserving of 

 mention in this connection, the Sierra Golden-mantled Ground- 



