THE SPINY POCKET MICE 59 



their little cheek pouches almost to bursting, so 

 that these pockets looked like furry balls set on 

 beside the jaws. It was always amusing to see 

 how rapidly the mice worked their little weak 

 forepaws when cramming the cheek pouches 

 full. As soon as a load was secured, they hur- 

 ried off quickly to the crevices in the rock piles, 

 where they emptied their pouches, and hurried 

 back for more. These mice were especially 

 fond of making off with the burro's barley, and 

 the supply often suffered severely from the 

 work of their industrious hands. A half-dozen 

 pocket mice working all night will carry off 

 several quarts of grain. 



On several occasions, while I was absent from 

 my house for a number of nights at a time, they 

 took to storing barley and seeds of various 

 kinds between the blankets and under the pil- 

 lows of my bed. When upon returning I laid 

 the covers back, I found their little seed piles, 

 each consisting of about a pint of grain. Sev- 

 eral successive nights afterward I was awakened 

 by feeling the soft furry creatures crawling 

 under my blankets as they came in with more 

 supplies of grain. Evidently they had not taken 



