WILD MICE 115 



that foxes and owls are about, and they keep 

 pretty close to cover. When they cross an ex- 

 posed place, they do it hurriedly. 



The field or meadow mice doubtless welcome 

 the snow. They can now come out of their dens 

 in the ground or beneath the flat stones and lead 

 a more free and active life. The snow is their 

 friend. It keeps off the cold, and it shields their 

 movements from the eyes of their enemies, the 

 owls, hawks, and foxes. Now they can venture 

 abroad from their retreats without fear. They 

 make little tunnels and roadways everywhere 

 over the surface of the ground. They build 

 winter houses under the great drifts. They 

 found little mouse colonies in places where they 

 have never been in summer. The conditions of 

 life with them are entirely changed. They can 

 get at the roots of the grasses, or the various 

 herbs and seeds they feed upon, as well as in the 

 snowless seasons, and without exposure to their 

 enemies. 



I fancy they have great times there beneath 

 the drifts. Maybe they have their picnics and 

 holidays then as we have ours in summer. When 

 the drifts disappear in spring, you may often see 

 where they have had their little encampments : a 

 few square yards of the pasture or meadow bot- 

 tom will look as if a map had been traced upon 



