WILD MICK 59 



If you take the o and the e out of " mouse," you have 

 left -muS) which is the Latin word for mouse ; but instead 

 of saying " mousey," a Roman girl would have said muscu- 

 lus. Put the two together, and you have 'Mus musculus, 

 the name we write when we want every person, whether he 

 understands our language or not, to know that w T e mean the 

 common house-mouse, for all the world is supposed to know T 

 something of Latin. This little plague was originally a na- 

 tive of some Eastern country, but has now spread all over 

 the world, forgetting where he really does belong. Some- 

 times, in this country, he forsakes the houses and takes up a 

 wild life in the woods. 



Coming now to our true field - mice, there is first one 

 which, to distinguish it from Old World kinds, is called in 

 the books by Greek words which mean the "white-footed 

 Western mouse" Hesperomys leucopus a very good 

 name. A second sort is generally found in meadows 

 through which brooks wander; and its Latin name, Arm- 

 cola riparius, just tells the whole story in two words; 

 it is the " meadow -mouse." The third and last sort of 

 wild mouse in Eastern America was first noticed near 

 Hudson's Bay, and, being a great jumper, received the 

 name of the " Hudsonian jumping-mouse " Jaculus hud- 

 sonius. 



