60 RAMBLES OF 



ing concealment. But in a moment it would vault into 

 the air, and skim along- for ten or twelve feet, looking 

 more like a bird than a little quadruped. After con- 

 tinuing this for some time, and nearly exhausting its pur- 

 suers with running and falling over each other, the 

 frightened creature was accidentally struck down by one 

 of the workmen, during one of its beautiful leaps, and 

 killed. As the hunters saw nothing worthy of attention 

 in the dead body of the animal, they very willingly re- 

 signed it to me ; and with great satisfaction I retreated 

 to a willow shade, to read what nature had written in its 

 form for my instruction. The general appearance was 

 mouse-like ; but the length and slenderness of the body, 

 the shortness of its fore limbs, and the disproportionate 

 length of its hind limbs, together with the peculiarity of 

 its tail, all indicated its adaptation to the peculiar kind 

 of action I had just witnessed. A sight of this little 

 creature vaulting or bounding through the air, strongly 

 reminded me of what I had read of the great kanguroo 

 of New Holland ; and I could not help regarding our 

 little jumper as in some respects a sort of miniature re- 

 semblance of that curious animal. It was not evident, 

 however, that the jumping mouse derived the aid from its 

 tail, which so powerfully assists the kanguroo. Though 

 long and sufficiently stout in proportion, it had none of 

 the robust muscularity which, in the New Holland ani- 

 mal, impels the lower part of the body immediately up- 

 ward. In this mouse, the leap is principally, if not en- 



