chipmunks, who seemed to
be engaged in some kind of game. It looked very much as if they were
playing tag. Round and round they would go, first one taking the lead,
then another, all good-natured and gleeful as schoolboys. There is one
thing about a chipmunk that is peculiar: he is never more than one jump
from home. Make a dive at him anywhere and in he goes. He knows where
the hole is, even when it is covered up with leaves. There is no doubt,
also, that he has his own sense of humor and fun, as what squirrel has
not? I have watched two red squirrels for a half hour coursing through
the large trees by the roadside where branches interlocked, and engaged
in a game of tag as obviously as two boys. As soon as the pursuer had
come up with the pursued, and actually touched him, the palm was his,
and away he would go, taxing his wits and his speed to the utmost to
elude his fellow.

I have observed that any unusual disturbance in the woods, near where
the chipmunk has his den, will cause him to shift his quarters. One
October, for many successive days, I saw one carrying into his hole
buckwheat which he had stolen from a near field. The hole was only a few
rods from where we were getting out stone, and as our work progressed,
and the racket and uproar increased, the chipmunk became alarmed. He
ceased carrying in, and after much hesitating and darting about, and
some prolonged absences, he began to carry out; he had determined to
move; if the mountain fell, he, at least, would be away in time. So, by
mouthfuls or cheekfuls, the grain was transferred to a new place. He did
not make a "bee" to get it done, but carried it all himself, occupying
several days, and making a trip about every ten minutes.

III

THE WOODCHUCK

In the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck takes the place, in some
respects, of the English rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under
every stone wall and jutting ledge and large boulder, whence it makes
raids upon the grass and clover and sometimes upon the garden
vegetables. It is quite solitary in its habits, seldom more than one
inhabiting the same den, unless it be a mother and her young. It is not
now so much a _wood_ chuck as a _field_ chuck. Occasionally, however,
one seems to prefer the woods, and is not seduced by the sunny slopes
and the succulent grass, but feeds, as did his fathers before him, upon
roots and twigs, the bark of young trees, and upon various wood plants.

One