Though delicate in appearance the flying squirrel is extremely hardy. It is abroad throughout the winter, being confined to its nest only during stormy weather. It stores food for the winter, but its caches are usually above ground in hollow trees and crevices rather than buried in the loam. Their food consists mostly of pine nuts, seeds, and acorns, but they are also fond of meat. Many a flying squirrel has met its death trying to take the bait from a trap set for larger game. This taste is unexplained; it is not known to prey on other animals. Western chipmunks Genus _Eutamias_ (Greek: eu, well or good and tamias, steward) There are at least four species of chipmunks native to the area covered by this book. Ordinarily but one, or perhaps two, species of a genus have been chosen for discussion. In this case, however, the chipmunks are such provocative little creatures and their presence causes so much interest that all four species will be included, although briefly. Since the ranges and life zones of some of them overlap in many areas, positive identification of a species will be difficult in those places, but in others one species will be dominant or alone. Here the more subtle characteristics and behavior of that type can be fixed in mind, and in time it will be less difficult to separate one from the other. Remember that most of these species have several subspecies. These generally occur along the upper or lower edges of the life zone frequented by the type. In the field they are usually indistinguishable from the type to any but the most practiced observer. 1. Colorado chipmunk (_Eutamias quadrivittatus_) [Illustration: Colorado chipmunk] Range: Northern Arizona, northern New Mexico, most of Utah, and all but the most northern portion of Colorado. This chipmunk lives largely in the Transition Life Zone. The closely related species _umbrinus_, commonly called “Uinta chipmunk” inhabits the Canadian and Hudsonian Life Zones in the Uinta and Wasatch Mountains of northeastern Utah. [Illustration: _Colorado_] [Illustration: Uinta chipmunk] [Illustration: _Uinta_] 2. Gray-necked chipmunk (_Eutamias cinereicollis_) [Illustration: gray-necked chipmunk] Range: Central Arizona eastward into southwestern and south central New Mexico. Total length 7½ to 10 inches. Tail 3½ to 4½ inches. Transition Life Zone and above. _Neck and shoulders gray._ [Illustration: _Gray-necked, Cliff_] 3. Least chipmunk (_Eutamias minimus_) [Illustration: least chipmunk] Range: Western Colorado, western Utah, northern and eastern Arizona, northern and central New Mexico. Inhabits all zones from Upper Sonoran to Alpine. Total length 6⅔ to 9 inches. Tail 3 to 4½ inches. _The smallest chipmunk with proportionally the longest tail. Tail carried straight up when running._ [Illustration: _Least_] 4. Cliff chipmunk (_Eutamias dorsalis_) [Illustration: cliff chipmunk]