68 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



beautiful white-footed mouse. The fact that this little 

 creature is a mouse, and you can not make anything else 

 out of it, is certainly very much to its disadvantage. 

 Could we but call it by some other name, many would 

 feel that interest in it which it really deserves. Being 

 a mouse it is passed by all unheeded, or else cruelly pur- 

 sued with all the alacrity that the good housewife displays 

 in chasing down a too daring Mus musculus. 



White-footed mice are nocturnal in their habits, but, 

 like all the night-loving mammals, they are frequently 

 astir during the day, and do not seem to be greatly in- 

 convenienced by the glare of the midday sun. 



In my neighborhood these mice are very abundant, 

 and I have taken especial care to watch for them, and 

 study their ways whenever I could, but in spite of all my 

 efforts I never could detect any peculiarly interesting 

 feature in their habits, or catch a glimpse of something 

 I had not anticipated. Our knowledge of the habits of 

 most of our mammals is still incomplete. Something 

 novel may at any time be expected ; but, lively and musi- 

 cal as is the white-footed mouse, it differs but little from 

 the prosiest mouse in your cupboard, so far as its habits 

 are concerned. 



Nevertheless, their manner is attractive, and reminds 

 one of a flying-squirrel, perhaps, more than anything 

 nearer akin to it. "When the nest is built in a tangled 

 thicket of briers, as is sometimes the case, or the animal 

 has chanced to occupy an old bird's nest, little white-foot 

 clambers about these briers with astonishing ease. How 

 it escapes the thorns, I can not imagine. Having found 

 a nest, an excellent method of making them display their 

 scansorial ability is to quietly place a dead snake near 

 by, and then give the mice a shaking up. The moment 

 they spy that snake, they leave for parts unknown with 



