126 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



strange pleasure this sound afforded me, it showed so clearly 

 the difference in the timbre or quality of the sound of distress 

 from that which I have called its singing. She was a good 

 deal excited, and ran frantically into and out of her little bed- 

 box, which had a hole at each end. Soon this tiny gust of rage 

 passed over. She now, though running about her cage, indulg- 

 ing in little gambols, indicating grace and agility, struck off 

 into a truly beautiful strain of song. It occupied about three 

 minutes, and had in it considerable scope and variety. First, 

 there was a clearly enunciated expression like that of the cooing 

 of a turtle dove, a soft note with a deliberate slowness. This 

 changed into a series of more rapid notes strangely suggesting 

 the not so weird-like, conchy clamor of the American cuckoo 

 [Coccyzus), then closing with a series of short, rapid- sounds like 

 the tapping of a woodpecker on a tree." "A very noticeable 

 fact was, that a great deal of this little creature's song was 

 poured forth while at play, that is, while in actual activity; and, 

 take the wheel play, for instance, when really in quite violent 

 exercise. A thing, too, which much surprised me, was, that 

 often when eating she sang aud ate at the same time, literally in 

 the same breath. This singular habit, so suggestive of a great 

 physiological difficulty, led to an incident, which caused con- 

 siderable merriment for those who witnessed it. I had been 

 examining some insect larvae on a twig of black alder. Without 

 any real motive, a bit of the twig, about an inch long, and an 

 eighth of an inch thick, was offered Hespie. She was delighted 

 and at once began in her usual pretty way, sitting up, to eat the 

 bark, although it is very bitter. Thus she sat "bolt upright;" 

 and the manner in which she held this little black stick in both 

 her hands up to her mouth, at the precise angle at which a fife 

 is held, although nibbling away, yet singing at the same time, 

 it looked so like a little fifer playing on an el5ony fife that 

 laughter was irresistible at the comical sight." 



"Wishing to see how this Hesperomys would behave in com- 

 pany, I put into her cage a young domestic mouse about one 

 third grown. She was asleep in her little box. When she 

 awoke it was a pretty sight. What animation ! How the black 

 eyes started and sparkled ! To me they seemed to snap with 

 fire. The whole frame was in a quiver — first of astonishment, 



