180 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



Total length 6.45; trunk 3.25; tail 3.20; nose to eye 50; nose 

 to ear 0.90; palms 0.34; soles 0.80; ears 0.55. 



It must be remembered that measurements of prepared speci- 

 mens in which age and sex are, for great part, neglected, are 

 eminently untrustworthy. Could such sources of error be 

 eliminated probably much of the variability assumed would 

 disappear. Although, therefore, the size of Minnesota speci- 

 mens seems slightly to exceed the average of the eastern form, 

 there is no certainty of this, our measurements giving the full 

 normal size. On the other hand the length of the tail and the 

 size fully distinguish our deer mice from the Arctic variety 

 which is characterized by a shorter tail and larger size. The 

 size is about as in the nominal variety "myoides," but the tail is 

 not generally as long as the head and body. Our specimens 

 may be unhesitatingly compared with those from northern New 

 England. Students of these animals should be warned that the 

 length even of the tail and feet, particularly the former, 

 changes considerably in drying, hence, only fresh measure- 

 ments are of positive value in a critical discussion. As we have 

 but three quite distinct forms of the numerous styles of Ves- 

 perimus in Minnesota we are happily not required to meddle 

 with such matters. 



' 'It [the white-footed mouse] is a good climber, and I have 

 often found its nest in ,holes in living trees, more than seventy 

 feet above the ground. While on a snow-shoe walk with a 

 friend one bright moonlight evening, several winters ago, one 

 of them was observed skipping lightly over the snow a short 

 distance ahead. We gave chase, but the mouse escaped by 

 running up the trunk of a smooth -barked beech hard by. My 

 friend, who was not aware of its climbing propensities, looked 

 on in amazement while the mouse, with as much ease and 

 nimbleness as a squirrel, ascended the tree and disappeared in 

 a knot-hole high among the branches. 



"The white-footed mouse does not hibernate. Except during 

 the severest weather, its tracks may be seen on the snow 

 throughout the winter, its long tail leaving a furrow by which 

 it may always be recognized. In the autumn it lays up an im- 

 mense store of provisions for so small an animal 1 ." 



In forest regions beech-nuts are said to usually furnish the 

 winter larder and it is not rare to find several quarts thus 

 stored away. Kennicott speaks of having found within a 



(1). Mammals of the Adirondacks, p. 263. 



