Jumplng-mouse 595 



We know that the swift-footed Antelope races in its social 

 games, the sturdy Bear wrestles, and cattle fence with their 

 horns, each to his specialty, so may reasonably assume that 

 the Zapus has a jumping performance when moved to social 

 play. 



The jumping is perhaps the most remarkable habit of speed 

 the species. When first seen creeping through the grass it 

 often passes for a Deer-mouse, but the moment one comes near, 

 it bounds away through the brush covering ten or twelve feet 

 at a bound. After the second or third leap it usually crouches 

 among the leaves and, as Dr. Merriam remarks, may readily 

 be mistaken for a wood-frog. On two occasions, at Carberry, 

 I have seen the Jumper alight, after its leap, on a large hori- 

 zontal branch two or three feet from the ground. There it 

 studied me for a moment before renewing its marvellous 

 bounds. Audubon and Bachman say :^^ "We doubt whether 

 there is any quadruped in the world, of its size, that can make 

 its way over the ground as rapidly, or one that can, in an open 

 space, so quickly evade the grasp of its pursuers." As it can 

 leap forty times the length of its own body, it would be like a 

 Deer clearing loo yards at every bound. 



So far as I know the Zapus never jumps in its ordinary 

 travelling or when searching for food; it leaps only when it must 

 to save its life, and that is no small portion of the time. I 

 should think that these dashes for life must average three a day. 



An admirable account of its ways'^ is furnished by Elisha 

 Slade. "It possesses," he says, "a momentary agility second 

 to no other rodent, and a muscular strength of enormous power 

 for so small a creature. When suddenly disturbed it often 

 moves away in a direct line, the first three or four leaps being 

 eight or ten feet in length, but these distances rapidly decline 

 to about four feet, which are continued until it considers itself 

 out of danger. This is not always the case, however, for it 

 frequently takes an irregular course and jumps at diverse 

 angles for several successive leaps, keeping the same general 



" Ibid., p. 253. " Merriam, Mam. Adir., 1884, p. 292. 



