HKSI'l-Ro.MVS LEUCOPUS. 267 



in the earth several inches below the surface, in which the young are 

 reared. Mr. Kennicott says he has known of " numerous instances 

 in which several have been observed inhabiting the same hole in a 

 tree with a family of flying squirrels." 



I have found this species with young at various times from April 

 until November, but do not know how many litters it has in a 

 season. As late as the 8th of November (1883) a nest was ploughed 

 up in one of our fields at Locust Grove. It was lined with feathers 

 and contained half-grown young. On the 29th of the same month I 

 secured in one trap a female and her young, which were two-thirds 

 grown. The mother bore evidence of having recently been nursed, 

 and the stomach of the youngsters contained nothing but milk. 

 From three to six are produced at a birth. 



The young are leaclen-gray in color and their ears are dispropor- 

 tionately large. Late in June the first litter begins to show pale 

 fawn color generally commencing on the flanks. 



Throughout its southern ranore, and even so far north as southern 



o o 



New England and portions of New York, the White-footed Mouse, 

 like the red, gray, and flying squirrels, is known to construct "out- 

 side nests " for the reception of its young. Such nests are usually 

 more or less cocoa-nut shaped, and sometimes measure a foot in 

 longest diameter. They consist of moss, grasses, leaves, inner bark, 

 and other similar substances. The opening is at or near the bottom. 

 They are commonly placed on a horizontal branch at a varying dis- 

 tance from the ground. Those that I have found have generally 

 been in thickets overrun with Swila.r, and were rarely more than ten 

 feet high. Nests of birds are sometimes refitted and occupied by 

 these animals. In the Adirondacks I have never known them to 

 build or inhabit outside nests. 



Dr. Barton, in 1804, published a note "On a species of North- 

 American Wandering Mouse," which, from the meagre description 

 given, seems to have been the White-footed Mouse. The Doctor 



says : 



18 



