White-footed Mouse 



Although the name wood mouse is not much used for this animal, 

 it has always seemed to me more suitable than any other, for it makes 

 its home in the woods at all times and seasons; only a comparatively 

 small proportion of them, in this part of New England, live in the fields, 

 tempted by the ripe corn and other provender which the woods fail 

 to supply. Wood mouse is the name I first heard it called by, and 

 is apparently the only one ever given it in this immediate region. 

 Deer mouse is another name frequently given to our species, either 

 because of its speed or the colour of its fur. 



The white-footed mouse does not seem to be at all particular 

 what kind of woods it inhabit?; evergreens and hardwoods, and 

 thickets of blueberry bushes are alike suited to its taste; sometimes, 

 indeed, a lonely old tree, standing by itself on a hillside, will harbour 

 a family. They make their homes in the hollow roots and branches 

 or knot holes, sometimes at a considerable height above the ground. 



In summer they appropriate the nests of song birds, in bushes 

 and low trees, fitting them up for use, just as squirrels do those of 

 hawks and crows. It appears probable, moreover, that they are not 

 over scrupulous in the mattter of waiting for the rightful owners to 

 depart before taking possession, as they are great lovers of fresh 

 meat and have often been caught in the act of devouring both eggs 

 and young birds. 



They are said sometimes to fashion nests of their own among 

 the branches, beginning with a platform of loose twigs laid cross- 

 wise for a foundation. Their lives, in fact, are pretty closely copied 

 after those of the squirrels. Their diet is almost identical; nuts, 

 berries, and grain being what they chiefly depend on. 



Like squirrels, they often find a way into granaries and farm- 

 houses in search of food, particularly in the winter, when times are 

 hard, for though they lay up generous stores of nuts and seeds and 

 hibernate to a certain extent, large numbers of them are up and doing 

 at all times in spite of the weather, gathering seeds here and there, 

 and gleaning whatever scraps of meat may be left by the larger flesh 

 eaters of the woods, and gnawing hungrily at any pieces of bone 

 they may run across. 



The great bleached and half prostrate stalks of the garget stiK 

 retain scattered berries, shrivelled and frozen to be sure, but packed 

 with seeds which the wood mice evidently find palatable, as they 

 make a point of gathering them every winter. 



They also climb for rose-hips and red alder berries and a little 



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