58 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



sharp, chisel-like teeth of the rabhit. He leaves 

 no chips, and apparently makes clean work of every 

 twig he cuts off. 



The wild or native mice usually lay up stores in 

 the fall, in the shape of various nuts, grain, and 

 seeds, yet the provident instinct, as in the red 

 squirrel and in the jay, seems only partly developed 

 in them; instead of carrying these supplies home, 

 they hide them in the nearest convenient place. I 

 have known them to carry a pint or more of hick- 

 ory nuts and deposit them in a pair of boots stand- 

 ing in the chamber of an outhouse. Near the 

 chestnut-trees they will fill little pocket-like depres- 

 sions in the ground with chestnuts ; in a grain-field 

 they carry the grain under stones; under some 

 cover beneath cherry-trees they collect great num- 

 bers of cherry-pits. Hence, when cold weather 

 comes, instead of staying at home like the chip- 

 munk, they gad about hither and thither looking 

 up their supplies. One may see their tracks on the 

 snow everywhere in the woods and fields and by 

 the roadside. . The advantage of this way of living 

 is that it leads to activity, and prob^lbly to socia- 

 bility. 



These wild mice are fond of bees and of honey, 

 and they apparently like nothing better than to be 

 allowed to take up their quarters in winter in some 

 vacant space in a hive of bees. A chamber just 

 over the bees seems to be preferred, as here they 

 get the benefit of the warmth generated by the 

 insects. One very cold winter I wrapped up one 



