For
half an hour he comes and goes, carrying two or three, even four
leaves at a time. Then he comes a little farther away from the log,
suddenly looks up and sees me sitting. He stops short, breathes
quickly, his little sides tremble; I take out an old envelope and
write his description, like this:
"Size, about half way between a mouse and a rat, five or six inches
long, with a tail perhaps five inches more, about as big around as a
man's thumb, bushy, but of even size the whole length, top of head
dark gray, yellowish circles about the shining black eyes; short,
erect ears; light gray underneath, with whitish legs; a narrow
black stripe down the middle of the back, then on either side, a
stripe of reddish gray; then a stripe of black, next a stripe of
yellow, then black again and after that, reddish fox color down to the
whitish under-parts."
At length the chipmunk makes a dash for the thicket ten feet away and
his "chip, chip," rings out excitedly as he reaches the friendly
shelter.
* * * * *
The chipmunk is not the only woods creature preparing for winter
during the hottest days of August. For more than a week the flying
squirrel has been making the small mossy cup acorns rain down on the
roof of the bungalow.
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