RATS AND MICE FAMILY 



233 



a side table in the parlor. The present writer 

 had an experience which is no less interesting. 

 In his work he used an ordinary pedestal writing 

 table, in the bottom left-hand drawer of which 

 were newspaper clippings. It was a busy edi- 

 torial office and there were at least forty persons 



Photograph by the West \'a. Universitj E-^peiimeul btrttioii 



HOUSE MOUSE 



Flashlight picture secured just as this little pest was having a 

 drink 



passing the table. One day on opening the 

 drawer a Mouse sprang out. leaving behind it 



a litter of ten young in a cozy little nest made 

 entirely of pieces of newspaper which had been 

 torn into mere shreds. The eyes of the little 

 Mice were closed and the animals themselves 

 were hairless. 



It seems to be well established that the House 

 Mouse is to a certain extent musical ; at any 

 rate, that it has a kind of song. Mr. Ernest 

 Ingersoll cites from the Scientific American 

 the following : " A few winters since, while one 

 of the family was amusing herself at the piano, 

 a Mouse made its appearance on the threshold 

 of the apartment, and, undismayed by the light 

 or the presence of the family, chirped and ca- 

 roled with intense satisfaction to itself and to 

 the great delight of its audience. Frequently 

 afterward, but always in the evening, the rare 

 songster repeated his performance. The piano 

 keys were never struck that the Mouse did not 

 follow ; but when the instrument was not 

 touched, the music from the Mouse would come, 

 as if for a reminder." Dr. Coues attributed 

 these " singing " exhibitions to an affection of 

 the throat, but they are now supposed generally 

 to be quite natural 



Another " accomplishment " is the dancing or 

 waltzing of the small black and white Japanese 

 Mice. Mr. S. C. Lloyd (in Country Life in 

 America) advocates breeding these Mice as a 

 source of income. They sell for $1 to $1.75 

 each. " As soon as they have their eyes open," 

 he says, " they commence to spin round, and 

 they keep this up through life." Mr. Lloyd has 

 trained his White Mice to " pull little circus 

 wagons with a tiny Mouse inside ; to shoot the 

 chutes ; to climb ladders and perform on the 

 trapeze ; to walk tight ropes, and to tell fortunes. 

 The trouble involved in teaching is very small 

 when compared with the profits, the only equip- 

 ment expense being that of a suitable cage which 

 lasts a life-time." 



Albert Porter. 



GRASSHOPPER MOUSE 

 Onychomys leucogaster (IVicd) 



Other Names. — Scorpion Mouse, Mole Mouse. 



General Description. — A thick-set, short-tailed 

 Mouse, noticeably larger and heavier than the House 

 Mouse. Head large ; ears of moderate height covered 



16 



with very short hair ; body rather thick-set ; tail short, 

 thick, blunt, covered with short hairs and about half 

 length of head and body ; legs of moderate length ; 

 fore feet large with long claws ; general color grayish- 



