This chipmunk was characteristic of the most boreal parts of the San
Gabriel Mountains. It was recorded from 6800 feet elevation at Big
Pines, to an altitude of approximately 9800 feet near Mt. San Antonio,
and was common where coniferous timber was interspersed with snowbrush
chaparral. In upper Icehouse Canyon and near Telegraph Peak these
chipmunks were associated with lodgepole pines and chinquapin, and one
mile east of Mt. San Antonio individuals were often observed in thickets
of manzanita. This chipmunk usually shunned pure stands of coniferous
timber except as temporary forage ground.
On Blue Ridge these chipmunks used the uppermost stems of snowbrush as
vantage points, and when disturbed ran nimbly over thorny surfaces of
the brush in seeking refuge in the tangled growth.
In early November of 1951, these animals were not yet in hibernation on
Blue Ridge. They were noted on November 6, after the season's first
snows had melted; on November 13, however, a cold wind with drifting fog
kept most of them under cover, and only two were noted in the course of
the day.
_Specimen examined._--Los Angeles County: 1 mi. S and 2 mi. E
Big Pines, 8100 ft., 1.
=Eutamias merriami merriami= (J. A. Allen)