54 



Till-. r.l'IDK T< ) X VTL'RE 



vided with a conveniently sized limb 

 of the right proportions, that is hollow 

 with a knot hole leading into the 

 cavity for them to go in and out of. In 

 this they will make their nest after 

 they have been provided with a lot of 

 fine, dry grass, flax or some similar kind 

 of stuff; almost anything but cotton 

 which they do not especially seem to 

 fancy. All kinds of nuts, grain and 

 seeds is the diet they are most ac- 

 customed to, but there are a few berries 

 they also like, and for a treat some- 

 times a bit of raw meat. In nature 

 they are unfortunately fond of both 

 young birds and eggs, but it seems to 

 me I would not encourage them in this 

 taste, and, as a matter of fact, they do 

 quite as well without anything of the 

 kind being added to their menu. Of 

 course a little dish of clean water is 

 essential, placed somewhere in the 

 cage where they will not forever be 

 getting into it, to soil their beautiful, 

 pure white underparts, so much admir- 

 ed by every one to whom you exhibit 

 them. 



It is truly wonderful how very soon 

 these cute little chaps come to know 

 you, their familiarity and gentleness 

 being ever on the increase as they 

 come to know you. Like the dor- 

 mouse, of which the children in Eng- 

 land are so found, our deer mice are 

 largely nocturnal in their habits. Still 

 they are often out in the daytime, and 

 in the winter seem to appreciate being 

 allowed to take a little scamper on the 

 snow in some place where you can eas- 

 ily watch and recover them. They are 

 more or less playful sometimes, and 

 soon learn to walk up and down one's 

 arm, in and out of pockets in search of 

 bits of nuts you may have placed there- 

 in for them to find. 



Deer mice are extremely cleanly in 

 their habits, and it is indeed a pretty 

 sight when one of them sits up like a 

 squirrel in one's hand and fixes himself 

 up with his dainty little snow-white 

 feet. They have the same way of pol- 

 ishing up their nose with the fore paws 

 as do squirrels and common house 

 mice, as well as giving the same at- 

 tention to their long and very conspicu- 

 ous whiskers. If one cares to, they can, 

 with patience, be taught quite a num- 



ber of amusing tricks, but personally I 

 have never cared for the so-called trick 

 animals of any kind and surely mice in- 

 cluded. Their natural behavior is what 

 I most admire, and all that I care to 

 study. 



This species has large and prominent 

 ears, though not as large as those of a 

 new deer mouse I discovered in New 

 Mexico many years ago and named 

 True's Pinion mouse (P. truei), and 

 it, I believe, has the largest ears for its 

 size of any mouse in this country, at- 

 tracting the attention of any one the 

 moment the animal is seen. My photo- 

 graph of a deer mouse, illustrating this 

 article, shows the species life size, and 

 is of a specimen I caught near Wash- 

 ington, D. C, and kept for a time 

 (Fig. 2). 



I must not forget to say that these 

 mice have a peculiar little "song" at 

 night, but this we find to be the case 

 with all of these creatures. It re- 

 sembles the twitterings of some of our 

 small song birds, and is by no means 

 an unpleasant sound. 



Of all the wild species of mice I have 

 ever kept, the far most extraordinary 

 were several individuals of a Kansas 

 form known as Richardson's kangaroo 

 mice, though they are so large that 

 they are likewise known as kangaroo 

 rats. This rodent is even a handsomer 

 animal than its congener, the deer 

 mouse, for the soft ochraceous buff of 

 its upper parts is extremely pretty and 

 attractive, while the white-striped 

 flanks, pure white limbs, feet and un- 

 der parts, together with the long, 

 bushy tail form additional features for 

 our admiration. 



I succeeded in obtaining several in- 

 teresting life size photographs of these 

 curious representatives of the mouse 

 group, and the reproduction of one of 

 the best of them is shown herewith 

 (Fig. i.) 



Here we have a rat-like mouse with 

 small ears and very big eyes, and with 

 small fore limbs and kangaroo-like 

 hind ones. They were the funniest 

 little animals one ever saw, and made 

 great pets. To call them energetic and 

 restless does not half express it. Their 

 vim was something remarkable. They 

 would jump a third the way across the 



