Their battle-cry is a low, peculiar chirp, not very fierce, but
bantering and confident. They quickly come to blows, but it is a very
fantastic battle, and, as it would seem, indulged in more to satisfy
their sense of honor than to hurt each other, for neither party gets
the better of the other, and they separate a few paces and sing, and
squeak, and challenge each other in a very happy frame of mind. The
gauntlet is no sooner thrown down than it is again taken up by one or
the other, and in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes they have
three or four encounters, separating a little, then provoked to return
again like two cocks, till finally they withdraw beyond hearing of each
other,—both, no doubt, claiming the victory. But the secret of the nest
is still kept. Once I think I have it. I catch a glimpse of a bird
which looks like the female, and near by, in a small hemlock about
eight feet from the ground, my eye detects a nest. But as I come up
under it, I can see daylight through it, and that it is
empty,—evidently only part finished, not lined or padded yet. Now if
the bird will only return and claim it, the point will be gained. But
we wait and watch in vain. The architect has knocked off to-day, and we
must come again, or continue our search.
While loitering about here we were much amused by three 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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