TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 311 



water. Finally he could brook the delay no longer 

 and plunged boldly overboarjd, but he had either 

 changed his mind or lost his reckoning, for he started 

 back in the direction he had come, and the last I 

 saw of him he was a mere speck vanishing in the 

 shadows near the other shore. 



Later on I saw another mouse while we were at 

 work in the fields that interested me also. This one 

 was our native white-footed mouse. We disturbed 

 the mother with her young in her nest, and she 

 rushed out with her little ones clinging to her teats. 

 A curious spectacle she presented as she rushed 

 along, as if slit and torn into rags. Her pace was 

 so precipitate that two of the young could not keep 

 their hold and were left in the weeds. We remained 

 quiet and presently the mother came back looking 

 for them. When she had found one she seized it 

 as a cat seizes her kitten and made off with it. In 

 a moment or two she came back and found the other 

 one and carried it away. I was curious to see if the 

 young would take hold of her teats again as at first 

 and be dragged away in that manner, but they did 

 not. It would be interesting to know if they seize 

 hold of their mother by instinct when danger threat- 

 ens, or if they simply retain the hold which they 

 already have. I believe the flight of the family 

 always takes place in this manner, with this species 

 of mouse. 



