Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/850

830, when one had escaped in the room, on placing a small apple in the cage, the creature re-entered it almost at once.

Very different was it with the red squirrels; at first they entered the trap, hut not afterward. They approached it, sometimes two or three together, ran round it on the upper rail of the fence on which it was placed, or sat on top of it in short, did everything but enter it—all the while seeming to enjoy the whole greatly.

Having secured a couple of ground squirrels in the manner described, I kept them under observation for the period during which they survived, viz., one for about a month and the other for between two and three months. From the first, one of them seemed to take more kindly to his new surroundings than the other; one appeared shy and dull, while his fellow seemed as happy as any chipmunk might be. They were captured in September, and it has often occurred to me that their habit of hibernation had something to do with the behavior of the one, though we should expect that, in such a matter, both would be equally or considerably affected. The degree to which, while retaining their original habits, the latter became modified in confinement, furnished me with an interesting study, and suggested many problems. My experience does not agree wholly with that of Audubon and Bachmann, who say, in their "Quadrupeds of North America," "We are doubtful whether this species can at any time be perfectly tamed." The one of my chipmunks that survived longest became in a short time so tame that he would eat from the hand, and even looked to be fed in this way. True, any noise, or any unusual movement, might startle the creature, when he would make the quick dart away so characteristic of the species in the wild state. But from this he very quickly recovered, and the tendency to be thus frightened grew less and less. The authors referred to also state that "they appeared to have some aversion to playing on a wheel, which is so favorite an amusement of the true squirrels." This does not at all agree with my observations; for though at first my chipmunk was apt to be startled when he found the revolver of his cage moving on his entering it, he soon got used to it, and delighted in it as much as any squirrel could—in fact, he used it by night and by day, manifesting an ability to control it which speaks much for the readiness with which such animals adapt themselves to new and difficult movements, and which shows how highly developed those parts of the brain must be which are concerned in the balancing and kindred functions. I may here correct another statement of the same authors. They maintain that squirrels do not lap fluids as the dog and cat. From repeated observations I know this to be an error, at least so far as the ground squirrel is concerned.