By Marcia Bonta Chipmunk Lives The high-strung little chipmunk is the dynamo of the rodent world. T HE TRACKS emerged from a burrow hole beneath one log and moved over the snow to a hole beneath another. I was surprised an eastern chipmunk had been out on such a cold and snowy Feb. 6. Possibly it was a male checking out the females in his vicinity. In their mating season, male chipmunks track 60 down receptive females by sniffing along their paths, and several males might chase a single female in what biologists call "mating bouts." If she is not ready to mate, she leads them on a chase, and might dive into hollow stumps or under logs. During mild winters with little or no snow on the ground, I have watched mating chases in February. But on this day it was 8 degrees at dawn.