JRATS AXD MICE 



347 



Pocket Mouse. 



burrows, but uiakes its nest in a variety of places. 

 Usually it is a careful, well-liued affair oul}- a few 

 inches underground, but frequenth' it creeps into a 

 hollow post or makes its home in the chinks of a 

 woodpile, from which it steals toward dusk when the 

 Bats come out. It hibernates in the most thorough 

 manner, one Wise Man believing that it stays in longer 

 than that sleepyhead, the Woodchuck. It usually 

 goes deep into the ground or to some out-of-the-way 

 corner for its long nap. The waking hours of the 

 Jumping Mouse are the most interesting to us, when 

 it moves among the waving hay fields, creeping slowly 

 on its uneven legs, filling its pockets with provisions, 

 and then, suddenly folding its arms, takes to the air. 

 Bounding along without seeming to touch ground after 

 the first leap, it is the perfect picture of free motion." 



