250 Field Museum or Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XI. 



and a half in an easterly direction from Vincennes. While digging in 

 a mound in search of relics that might throw light upon its origin and 

 history, we came to a nest about two feet below the surface of the 

 ground, carefully made of bits of grass, and in this nest was a Jumping 

 Mouse {Jaculus Hudsonius Baird) apparently dead. It was coiled 

 up as tightly as it could be, the nose being placed upon the belly, and 

 the long tail coiled around the ball-like form which the animal had 

 assumed. I took the little mouse in my hand. It exhibited no motion 

 or sign of life. Its eyes and mouth were shut tight, and its little fore 

 feet or hands were shut and placed close together. Everything in- 

 dicated that the mouse was perfectly dead, except the fact that it was 

 not as rigid as perhaps a dead mouse would be in the winter. I tied 

 the mouse and nest in my handkerchief and carried them to Vincennes. 

 Arriving at Dr. Patton's office I untied my treasures, and took out 

 the mouse and held it for some time in my hand; it still exhibited no 

 sign of life ; but at length I thought I saw a slight movement in one of 

 the hind legs. Presently there was a very slight movement of the 

 head, yet so feeble that one could hardly be sure it was real. Then there 

 came to be some evidence of breathing, and a slight pressure of my 

 fingers upon the tail near the body was followed by an immediate but 

 feeble movement of one of the hind legs. At length there was unmistak- 

 able evidence that the animal was breathing, but the breathing was 

 a labored action, and seemingly performed with great difficulty. As 

 the mouse became warmer the signs of life became more and more 

 marked; and in the course of the same afternoon on which I brought it 

 into the warm room it became perfectly active, and was as ready to 

 jump about as any other number of its species. 



"I put this mouse into a little tin box with holes in the cover, and 

 took him with me in my journeyings, taking care to put in the box a 

 portion of an ear of com and pieces of paper. It ate the corn by 

 gnawing from the outside of the kernel, and it gnawed the paper into 

 bits with which it made a nest. On the fourth day after its capture 

 I gave it water which it seemed to relish. On the 23d of January I 

 took it with me to Elgin, Illinois, nearly three hundred miles farther 

 north than the region where I found the specimen. The weather was 

 intensely cold. Taking the mouse from the box, I placed it on a news- 

 paper on a table, and covered it with a large glass bell, lifting the edge 

 of the glass so as to admit a supply of air. Under this glass was placed 

 a good supply of waste cotton. Soon after it was fairly established in 

 its new and more commodious quarters, it began to clean every part 

 of its body in the most thorough manner, washing itself very much 

 in the same manner as a cat washes. On coming to the tail it passed 



