THE EDUCATIONAL HUM AXE SOCIETY 



53 



ground about. Certainly he was the 

 most striking- looking- "little creature 

 that one can well imagine. 



After getting him home and warmed 

 up in my room, I took him out of the 

 trap to place him in more roomy and 

 comfortable quarters. Much to my 

 surprise and pleasure, he made no at- 

 tempt to bite or scratch, as most mice 

 do under such handling, nor did he 

 squeal out as though he was about to 

 be killed. In other words he was the 

 most peaceful and by all odds the 

 gentlest of all the little rodents I had 

 ever had in captivity, and that is say- 

 ing a great deal, for in my time I've 

 had a whole lot of species from a field 

 mouse to a muskrat. 



To any one who is a naturalist and 

 accustomed to the care of these small 

 mammals it becomes apparent almost 

 at once that few there are that make 

 more interesting little pets than this 

 very same deer mouse or, as they are 

 likewise known up in New England 

 and elsewhere, wood mice and white- 

 footed mice. All three of their ver- 



nacular names fit them very well, for 

 between color and expressive eyes one 

 of these little fellows certainly does 

 call to one's mind the doe of our com- 

 mon white-tailed deer; while at the 

 same time we give them the name of 

 "woodmice" from the fact that they al- 

 most invariably make their home in 

 the woods at all times of the year. 

 Nevertheless we sometimes find them 

 living in various places in open fields. 

 We also call it the "white-footed" 

 mouse for reasons too evident to re- 

 quire explanation. 



These little mice make the cunning- 

 est sort of pets, and if one is so fortu- 

 nate as to have secured a mated pair of 

 them, there is no trouble about having 

 them breed and rear their young in 

 captivity. All that is required is a 

 medium sized cage to keep them in, 

 more for the sake of protection against 

 cats and unlooked for accidents than 

 the necessity of any confinement, for 

 they soon learn to love their home 

 and are quite contented when properly 

 looked out for. They should be pro- 



FIG. 2— WHITE-FOOTED OR DEER MOUSE 

 (Two-thirds life size.) Photographed from life by Dr. Shufeldt 



