214 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 
Jumping Mouse is a good mother, and never deserts 
her babies. If alarmed while feeding them, she will 
spring through the air with from three to five of them 
clinging to her for dear life, and carry them safely 
through all her series of lofty leaps. 
The first frost rings the bed-time bell for the jump- 
ing mouse. Three feet underground he builds a 
round nest of dried grass, and lines it with feathers, 
hair, and down. Then he rolls himself into a round 
bundle, which he ties up with two wraps of his long 
tail, and goes to sleep until spring. Of all the Sleepers 
he is the soundest. Dig him up and he shows no sign 
of life; but if brought in to a fire, he wakes up and 
becomes his own lively self once more. Put him out 
in the cold, and he rolls up and falls asleep again. 
One of the Band who holds high office is by 
way of being a naturalist instead of an explorer or 
an aviator, as he originally intended. Last summer, 
in a bit of dried-up marshland near the roadside, he 
heard strange rustlings. On investigating, he found a 
family of young jumping mice moving through the 
grass and feeding on the buds of alder-bushes. They 
were quite tame, and as they ran out on the ends of 
the branches, he had a good view of them and finally 
managed to catch one by the end of his long tail. 
The mouse bit the boy, but did not even draw blood. 
Afterwards he seemed to become tamer, although 
shaking continually. Given a bit of bread, he sat 
up and nibbled it likea little squirrel; but even as 
he ate he suddenly had a spasm of fright and died. 
This death from fright occurs among a number of 
