192 MAMMALIA. 



Family Zapodid.^. 



ZAPUS HUDSONIUS (Zimm-) Coues. 



Jumping Mouse ; Labrador Mouse. 



The Jumping Mouse is common in many parts of the Adiron- 

 dacks, as well as in the surrounding country. It feeds upon 

 beechnuts, and various seeds and berries. 



Within the Wilderness it is most often observed in the tangled 

 borders of low shrubs that surround the lakes and beaver meadows; 

 while beyond the confines of the region it inhabits both the clear- 

 ings and woodlands. It delights in grain fields, and in meadows 

 of tall waving grass, where it finds abundant food and can readily 

 escape its most active enemies. But when the time for haying and 

 harvesting arrives, the Mice are suddenly deprived of their accus- 

 tomed shelter and many seek protection beneath the haycocks and 

 stacks of grain. By quickly overturning these, they are confused 

 and frightened and may be captured with comparative ease. 



When stationed to watch for deer, on the borders of our Adi- 

 rondack lakes, I have often remained in one place during the 

 greater part of the day. Seated, sometimes on a log that crossed 

 a narrow belt of marsh along the shore, sometimes on the mossy 

 slope of a well-wooded knoll hard by, and hidden by the dense 

 frontage of undershrubs, or by the more open shelter of a slender 

 tamarack, I have learned much that fills these pages. Encroaching 

 upon the very water's edge is a net-work of wiry bushes, repelling 

 the canoe that attempts to land. It consists chiefly of the leather 

 leaf {Cassandra calyculata) and sweet gale (^Myrica gale), with 

 smaller quantities of the wild rosemary (^Andro)neda polifolia), 

 meadow sweet {Spircea salicifolia), and swamp laurel {Kalniia 

 glauca). Adjoining this is a strip of sphagnous bog which supports 

 a luxuriant growth of the curious pitcher plant, interspersed with 

 straggling cranberries. Careful search may reveal the insect-eat- 

 ing Drosera, as well as several rare species of orchids. Where the 



