WILD-MICE. 69 



such alacrity that even the direction they take can not 

 always be satisfactorily ascertained. Leaving the dead 

 snake, however, does not prevent their return, for soon 

 they will come creeping cautiously along the briers, as 

 slowly as possible, and evidently reconnoitring. If they 

 are satisfied that the snake is motionless, they will creep 

 very near, thus braving a great deal, especially if their 

 nest contains young. Perhaps half an hour may pass, 

 but they gradually determine that the snake is dead, and 

 then they slip cautiously back to their nest. If the snake 

 is left, their fear wholly vanishes by the next day ; and 

 the chances are, if you revisit the nest, you will see them 

 dining off the reptile. 



In autumn, white-footed mice store up nearly as great 

 a bulk of nuts and grain as the chipmunk, and build cozy 

 nests near these magazines. Usually tljere is an under- 

 ground passage connecting the two, unless the nest is 

 under a log or stump. During winter these mice take 

 very protracted naps ; but they are supposed not to hiber- 

 nate. Now the distinction between sleeping, often over 

 a period of four weeks, without once awaking, and true 

 hibernation, is one that I fail to comprehend. Notwith- 

 standing the very extensive magazines filled with choice 

 food, gathered by these mice, they do not make any 

 marked inroad upon them during the winter, and so, if 

 much of the time awake, they must have but very poor 

 appetites. Time and again I have opened their granaries 

 in February and March, and found them nearly or quite 

 undisturbed. Perhaps they had other stores of food, 

 which had been opened during the winter, but I think 

 not; and I know very well that these mice are nearly 

 twice as heavy in May as in March, when " they are poor 

 as snakes." 



If the weather be warm, about April 1st they are fully 



