WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



round, and thin, giving a most alert expression 

 to its countenance. The fur is soft, dense, and 

 glossy, reddish - brown above and white below, 

 sharply demarcated, while the feet are all white, 

 so that its name of "deer-mouse/' in allusion to 

 both colors and speed, is very apt. The half- 

 grown young, however, are mainly bluish-gray, 

 and may easily be mistaken for house-mice. 



In general habits all these are pretty much alike, 

 though some prefer dry, while others choose wet, 

 ground; some keep chiefly in the woods, others 

 on the prairies, and so on. All the species bur- 

 row more or less, and some build elaborate nests. 

 Their voices are fine, low, and squeaking, but the 

 meadow-mouse is a great chatterbox, and the 

 white-foot has been known more than once really 

 to sing tunes of his own very nicely.* Each one 

 manifests immense courage in defending its young 

 against harm; but I believe only the meadow- 

 mice are accused of being really ferocious, and 



* Whether or not this "singing J' of mice, which has been 

 observed in several species, including the house-mouse, is 

 not really a kind of wheezing due to bronchial disease, is 

 not yet decided. Any one who cares to look up the question 

 should read the extensive accounts of such musical mice 

 published in The American Naturalist for 1871, and also 

 for 1889, p. 481. 



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