  We prove two transformations for the $p$-adic hypergeometric series which can
be described as $p$-adic analogues of a Kummer's linear transformation and a
transformation of Clausen. We first evaluate two character sums, and then
relate them to the $p$-adic hypergeometric series to deduce the
transformations. We also find another transformation for the $p$-adic
hypergeometric series from which many special values of the $p$-adic
hypergeometric series as well as finite field hypergeometric functions are
obtained.
