The chipmunk belongs to the squirrel family, but instead of living in the trees – or at least dashing to a tree for security, as a squirrel does when the least thing alarms it – the chipmunk is a ground dwelling creature is more likely to seek shelter in its burrow underground. Nevertheless, the chipmunk can and does climb trees if it is chased by some active enemy, such as a dog.

In September or October the chipmunk retires to its underground nest for winter sleep that lasts until March or April. One nest that was dug out of the ground was about a foot across and contained 2 quarts of grain that the chipmunk had stored up as winter food, as well as a huge pile of solidly packed leaves that served as a bed for the hairless babies. There are usually four or five babies in each letter.

The chipmunk has pouches in its cheeks where it stores nuts and grain, seeds, acorns and berries before carrying them into its nest. As many as thirty-four Beach nuts have been taken out of the cheeks of one chipmunk.

The Whitetail (or Virginia deer) is the best known of all the larger game animals of the United States, for it is found from about the Canadian border down to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic coast westward to the Great Plains. It likes the thinned out forests, the brushy woodlands, the tangled and overgrown fields of abandoned New England farms, and has become so common in many of the Eastern states that it is a real problem to farmers and country gardeners. It delights in feeding on early garden produce, leaping the fences to get at the green tops of the vegetables. Gardeners, unlike the rest of us, are not thrilled by the sight of the white tail.

The white tail is not a large deer, standing only a little more than 3 feet high. Bucks weigh 150 to 300 pounds. The bucks shed their antlers in midwinter or early spring and the new ones are fully grown by late summer; the velvet is rubbed off in September.

Although the gray fox is a common animal in some parts of the United States, most people are apt to think of the red species when the word fox is mentioned – possibly because the fur of the red fox is widely used commercially while that of the gray fox is not.

The gray fox ranges from the Great Lakes eastward to the Atlantic, South into Texas, and along the Pacific coast as far as Washington and inland to Wyoming. Generally speaking, it prefers warmer regions than the red fox, and is found even in the deserts of the Southwest. It inhabits a forest in regions of the East and parts of the West; elsewhere it has adapted itself to open plains and actual desert.

The red fox has managed to survive the encroachments of civilization by its extreme slyness and cunning. The gray fox is by no means as cunning and will allow itself to be taken into traps that would never deceive a red fox. When chased, it simply dives into an underground burrow, or climbs a tree. This latter habit is the source of one of its names: it is sometimes called the tree fox.

The great fox makes its home in caves, deep cracks in rock ledges, or in hollow trees. The young, 3 to 5 in number, are born in the stands in the early spring. It eats practically anything, from mushrooms and acorns to fish, snakes and small mammals. An adult gray fox is about 40 inches long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, it weighs 8 pounds on average.

It prefers to live in wild and broken country, among the mountains, and foothills, where great rocks and ravines and scattered brush give the landscape a forbidding air. Rather short legged and stocky of body, the mule deer has all the strength and speed it needs to escape such amazing animals as cougars. It runs with tremendous jumps, leaping into the air with all 4 feet and landing on all fours. Of course this method of running is not as fast as the gait of some deer, but it is a great advantage in such rough country.

In the wintertime, the mule deer gather in rather large groups and feed mostly in the sheltered low lands. With the coming of spring and the melting of the snow, they break up into small parties of two or three or wander off by themselves, and move up into the mountains to feed on grass, twigs, the leaves of low trees and shrubs, acorns and the like.

Mule deer bucks weigh about 150 to 200 pounds, on average, and stand 3 ½ feet high at the shoulder. The females, or does, or a little smaller.

The Chamois lives in the mountains of Europe – in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, and the Alps of Switzerland and in the rugged Carpathians and Caucases. Actually it is not so much of the mountain dwelling creature as we are likely to think, and is more often found in the forged slopes of the mountains than among the barren rocks. It is winter color is chestnut brown, but in spurring it takes a lighter grayer hue. The males, or bucks, weigh from 50 to 70 pounds.

The herds of Chamois are made of fifteen or twenty animals. At daybreak they start feeding but in the middle of the day they seek the shelter of rocks or trees and lie in the shade until dusk. Lichens and the various kinds of low growing plants that live high upon the mountains or their food.

One fawn, very rarely two, is born in the spring. The antler’s begin to appear in the second year and reach their full size in the fifth year. Like almost all members of the dear family, fallow deer shed their answers in the spring and new ones start growing immediately, springing as soft, spongy new growth from the bony scar left by the fallen antlers. The new antlers are covered by a fuzzy skin during the summer, while growing and hardening, during this period the animal is said to be “in velvet.” By fall, the velvet begins to peel off and eight layers are bone hard.

A common mistake is to refer to the antlers of deer has horns. Properly speaking, horns grow continuously until they reach maximum size, or never shed, and are carried by such animals as cattle, antelopes, sheep and goats; antler’s are shed and renewed each year, and are peculiar to the deer tribe.

In Asia and Africa alike there are several kinds of rather small, longtailed, spotted or striped, cat-like animals called civets, or civet cats. They are quite short legged and long bodied and their general body color is grayish brown.

The civet possesses glands which secrete a very strong, sweetish scent and many years ago it was hunted for the sake of this scent, which was used in the making of perfume. Actually it is not a very pleasant smell – as anyone can testify who has entered a small mammal house in a zoo on a warm summer day and  stopped in front of the civet cage – but it has a peculiar, lasting quality that makes it very valuable in perfumery. Naturally, this scent is changed and disguised in the perfume; it is used only as a base or foundation for other scents.

In general the civet is a shy and solitary animal, hiding in the forests, bushes or thick grass during the day and coming out in more open country only at night. The natives are not very fond of it because of its habit of killing poultry, but in the wild it feeds on birds and small animals, snakes, frogs, insects, eggs and even fruits.

Where ever the civet goes, it leaves a trail of it scent behind and there are many stories of hunting dogs chasing other game but branching off and starting to chase the civet when they run across the track.

Although a brown bear may be quite fat when it begins its winter sleep, much of this fat disappears during the winter.

Many stories are told of the fearsome bear hug in which a bear is supposed to grasp a man and squeeze him to death. Naturalists do not believe a bear actually kills a man by hugging him in this manner, but a bear can be very dangerous with its large, heavily clawed paws.

In the Middle Ages, and even in recent years in some parts of Europe, travelling bands of gypsies exhibited brown bears which have been taught to dance. This is not a real dance, but a kind of shuffle which the bears easily learn to do.

The javan banteng is not as large as some other wild oxen – the gaur, for example – but it stands five feet nine inches at the shoulder, and the record horns are twenty-six and one-half inches on the outside curve. The short hair of adult bulls is blackish-brown or black, and a distinctive characteristic is a large white patch on the rump. Cows are smaller and reddish-chestnut in color.

Being a forest-dwelling animal, the banteng has disappeared in areas where the jungle has been cut down for plantations, and excessive hunting has further depleted its numbers. At present it is quite rare in Java. The flesh is excellent eating and it has been much hunted by the natives for that reason; its hide, too, makes good leather, and forest people always find plenty of uses as utensils and decoration for horns such as the banting possesses.

Some Malay peoples keep herds of semi-domesticated bantengs, often crossed with domestic cattle, for the sake of meat and hides.

The rancher riding the range in the Western United States may sometimes see a small, sandy grayish creature resembling a shepherd dog as it trots along through the sagebrush. At any slight rise in the land it is likely to seek the highest part and turn to watch him intently. That is the coyote, or prairie wolf, that is such a characteristic animal of the western North America.

But the coyote is a shy and wiley wolf and although it has not been driven out of the great regions now under cultivation were used for cattle ranching, it keeps out of sight as much as possible. Even where it is seldom seen, is often heard – for the coyote gives voice to it’s a wild, half chattering, half wailing cry at sunrise and again at sunset. It is one of the lonesomest, most mournful sounds in the world and yet one that the Westerners like to hear, for it reminds them of nights and days on the prairie, of long rides under the open sky and of the pungent smell of the sagebrush fires.

Stockman consider the coyote a pest, for it kills sheep and poultry. Thousands of coyotes are hunted down every year. Nevertheless, it is of considerable value in killing small rodents, which are perhaps the largest part of its diet, along with birds, lizards, insects and carrion.

The coyote is a fast runner – faster than all but the swiftest breeds of dogs – and takes refuge in flight when it is frightened.