3C0 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



Placing them in a large glass tank, I noticed tlieir move- 

 ments were much unlike those of the common domestic 

 mouse. Thej did not run ; they walked, and held them- 

 selves erect. Young as they were, they stood on their 

 hind-feet a great deal, and used their fore-limhs as arms. 

 When 80 doing they brought their long tails into use as 

 an additional support. One little fellow, more anxious 

 than the others to escape, took eleven firm steps on his 

 hind-feet without any evidence of indecision or strained 

 effort at balancing. It had all the appearance of the 

 practised walk of a biped, and seemed not an unusual 

 occurrence. This was a source of great satisfaction to 

 me, as I had already been convinced that mice could 

 walk in this manner, but had never had so excellent an 

 opportunity to witness it. 



The little creatures' arboreal habits have been largely 

 overlooked. Seldom are they found except upon the 

 ground, unless when occupying an old bird's nest; but 

 they do at times, nevertheless, ascend to the very tops 

 of hollow trees, or as far as the decayed interior reaches. 

 They clamber along the sides of this cavity only, and 

 so you may be leaning against the very tree they are in 

 and never suspect their presence. "What induces them 

 to do so is not readily determined, but the probabilities 

 are that they are in quest of food, and not merely seek- 

 ing safety from pursuing foes. However this may be, 

 I have several times found them in such positions, and 

 once an abandoned leaf-uest of gray squirrels was util- 

 ized by them as a winter home. 



These arboreal habits of the white-footed mice bring 

 prominently to mind the once seductive theory, and 



