Bulletin No. 94   November 30, 1946
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE CHIPMUNK

The chipmunks have disappeared and are hibernating in their grass-
lined nests deep in the ground below the frost line. One pair under 
observation during the past three years was last seen on October 10. 
The first time they appeared this year was on March 20, but in 1945 
their tracks were seen in the snow on March 3.

The chipmunk is one of the most attractive and best known of our small 
mammals -- brightly marked, inquisitive, timid but easily tamed, 
scuttling about the woods, along fences, or around piles and walls of 
rock with its tail extended or held stiffly erect, pausing on a log or a 
boulder to watch and scold you. When alarmed it utters a shrill high-
pitched chirping whistle accompanied by twitches of its tail and body.

The chipmunk scurries up and down trees but spends most of its time 
on the ground, gathering seeds, nuts, acorns and berries. They also eat 
insects, young mice and occasionally bird's eggs. Beneath logs, stumps 
and rock piles are concealed entrances to their burrows, which may be 
20 feet or more in length, with several branches to chambers stored with 
food and to the nest.

The chipmunk should not be confused with the Thirteen-striped Ground 
Squirrel, commonly and incorrectly called a gopher. The latter does not 
climb, prefers dry open fields, and is frequently seen darting across a 
highway or sitting upright and motionless in a pasture. The ground 
squirrel has a longer slenderer body, a short skimpy tail, smaller ears, 
and 13 stripes on its back and sides: the dark stripes dotted with rows of 
yellowish spots.

The chipmunk is stockier and has a flat bushy tail almost as long as its 
body. Down the middle of its back runs a dark stripe. On each side 
there are two dark stripes separated by a prominent whitish stripe. 
There is a dark stripe running through each eye, with a buff stripe above 
and below it.

The true gopher is the Pocket Gopher, an animated steam shovel that 
lives largely underground, like the mole, in a widespread labyrinth of 
tunnels -- surly, solitary and seldom seen.