114 SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS 



native mouse had established itself in the top of 

 the hive, and had levied a ruinous tax upon the 

 shawl to make itself a nest. Never was a fabric 

 more completely reduced into its original ele- 

 ments than were large sections of that shawl. 

 It was a masterly piece of analysis. The work 

 of the wheel and the loom was exactly reversed, 

 and what was once shawl was now the finest and 

 softest of wool. 



The white-footed mouse is much more com- 

 mon along the fences and in the woods than 

 one would suspect. One winter day I set a 

 mouse-trap — the kind known as the delusion 

 trap — beneath some ledges in the edge of the 

 woods, to determine what species of mouse was 

 most active at this season. The snow fell so 

 deeply that I did not visit my trap for two or 

 three weeks. When I did so, it was literally 

 packed full of white-footed mice. There were 

 seven in all, and not room for another. Our 

 woods are full of these little creatures, and they 

 appear to have a happy, social time of it, even in 

 the severest winters. Their little tunnels under 

 the snow and their hurried leaps upon its sur- 

 face may be noted everywhere. They link tree 

 and stump, or rock and tree, by their pretty 

 trails. They evidently travel for adventure and 

 to hear the news, as well as for food. They know 



