Jumping-mouse 591 



For some months Audubon and Bachman kept three voice, 

 specimens, apparently of true hudsonius, in a cage for observa- ^^^" 

 tion, and state :^ "They were usually very silent, but, when we 

 placed a Common Mouse in the cage, squeaked with a loud 

 chattering noise, like some young bird in pain." 



It is a burrowing animal, notwithstanding its reversal of bur- 

 the true digger build, which requires the fore-paws to be the '^'^^^^ 

 strongest. Kennicott says that it usually lives in short burrows 

 underground; in summer these are near the surface, in fall and 

 winter much deeper. Audubon and Bachman comment * 

 thus on their captives, which were a female and two young: 

 "We placed a foot of earth at the bottom of the cage; in this 

 they formed a burrow with two outlets. They used their feet 

 and nails to advantage, as we observed them bury themselves 

 in the earth in a very short time." 



In the woods, according to Kennicott,^ it is often found nesting 

 nesting in situations similar to those occupied by P. leucopus. 

 *' Itcannot climb, butcrawls up the inside of hollow trees to a con- 

 siderable height from the ground, and is sometimes found nesting 

 in them, but its nest is often discovered under the bark of rotten 

 trees or stumps * * * sometimes found in a tuft of grass above 

 the surface or under an inverted sod." Audubon and Bach- 

 man say: "The domicile of the Jumping-mouse in summer, 

 in which the young are produced, we have always found near 

 the surface, seldom more than six inches underground, some- 

 times under fences and brushwood, but more generally under 

 clods of earth, where the sward had been turned over in early 

 spring, leaving hollow spaces beneath, convenient for the sum- 

 mer residence of the animal. The nest is composed of fine grass, 

 mixed with which we have sometimes found feathers, wool, and 

 hair."" These remarks may have been made with the South- 

 ern form (americanus) partly in view, but it is unlikely that the 

 sub-species differs much in habit from the true hudsonius. 



^ Quad. N. A., 1849, Vol. II, p. 254. * Ibid. 



* Quad. 111., 1857, p. 96. ''Loc. at., p. 255. 



