Meadow Jumping Mouse 



to be stroked or even taken in the hand without offering re- 

 sistance or attempting to escape. They seem to be decidedly less 

 intelligent than other mice, trusting mainly to good luck and their 

 gift at jumping to carry them through whatever dangers threaten. 

 Apparently they never look before they leap, so that that which 

 should be their safety often proves their ruin, as they are about 

 as likely to spring directly into the clutches of a cat or other 

 enemy as in an opposite direction; in this manner they are frequently 

 drowned in milk-pans and tubs of water which a little ordinary 

 caution would have avoided. 



The last one I saw was on the bank of a stream in the 

 woods where the wild grape-vines and smilax trailed along the 

 edge of the water. 



At first it attempted to escape by crouching among the grass 

 and dead leaves, but when I stooped down to examine it it began 

 leaping in the characteristic aimless and erratic manner of the 

 species. Finally when I made an attempt to capture it with a 

 landing net it leaped well out from the bank and descended in 

 the water where the current was pretty strong; the mouse, how- 

 ever, proved equal to the occasion and swam swiftly enough 

 against the stream for several yards to a floating branch along 

 which it ran to the other end, where it again entered the water 

 to swim ashore and hide among the driftwood and rubbish under 

 the overhanging bank. 



Jumping mice are oftenest seen just after the meadows and 

 hay fields are cleared in August, evidently driven from their ac- 

 customed haunts and wandering lost and bewildered looking for 

 new homes, or it may be that the summer drouth has compelled 

 them to start out in search of water. 



Their food appears to consist, like that of the other outdoor 

 mice, largely of grass seeds, undoubtedly varied at times by the 

 addition of berries and mushrooms and probably insects. 



Ordinarily they creep about in the grass and leaves in a 

 manner calculated to escape all notice, and it is only when 

 threatened that they bring into use their powers of leaping, the 

 value of which probably depends a good deal on its unexpected- 

 ness and the sudden effect of surprise it produces on the enemy. 



These mice are dormant through a much longer season than 

 are most hibernating animals, passing six months or more of 

 every year in this condition curled up in their nests underground. 



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