THE WHITE -FOOTED MOUSE 



The white-footed mouse has a deadly enemy 

 in the weasel family, the stoat, or ermine, 

 which pursues its defenceless victims every 

 month in the year. I seldom see a small weasel, 

 but the stoat is common in this vicinity. 



While a stoat is rearing its young, the life 

 of the white-footed mouse is made miserable. 

 By day and by night its bloodthirsty foe 

 is on the trail. It is no unusual thing to 

 see a stoat running along the wall back of 

 the cabin with a mouse in its mouth. It car- 

 ries its victim by the middle, and alwa} r s re- 

 minds me of the picture of a tiger carrying off 

 a Hottentot. Some of the old mice are quick- 

 witted and full of resource, and escape danger, 

 otherwise the species would soon be exter- 

 minated. There is an auger-hole in one of 

 the logs inside the cabin that affords a mouse 

 a safe retreat. Several times I have seen a 

 stoat thrust its paw into the hole, only to 

 jerk it out in hot haste. A drop of blood on 

 the log would show that the mouse had de- 

 fended itself with its sharp teeth. 



There are three mice about my cabin that 

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