Chipmunk (Tamias striatus), a kind of squirrel, common in North America. The genus includes only a few species, often called Ground Squirrels, and distinguished from the common Sciurus by the possession of capacious cheek-pouches, by the longer snout but shorter tail and ears, by the constant absence of the first upper molars. They are pretty little animals, of active disposition, living in underground burrows, where they indulge to apparent excess their mania for storing food. The food consists of nuts, seeds, and grain; and the chipmunks plunder to no inconsiderable extent the fields of wheat and maize. They are, like many other rodents, very prolific. See SQUIRREL.