90 



ORDERS OF MAMMALS— GNAWING ANIMALS 



scarce (and rapidly becoming more so!) these 

 pretty little creatures seem much more worthy 

 of notice. I have many times found them nest- 

 ing in cavernous and ill-smelling buffalo car- 

 casses, and in the brain cavity or between the 

 jaws of buffalo skulls from which the skin had not 

 been removed by the hide-hunters. 



In some places I have lain awake at night to 

 hate mice, for cause, and wish them all dead, 

 by all manner of violent deaths ; but on a bleak 

 and wind-shaven Montana plain where the bleach- 

 ing skulls of thousands of slaughtered buffalo lie 



elled over smoothly-shaven prairie divides miles 

 away from all proper shelter. In the West, how- 

 ever, they are found most frequently in the brush 

 and timber of stream valleys, where the rank 

 weeds and grasses produce seed on which they 

 feed. In the eastern United States they are 

 found in nearly all agricultural regions. They 

 are active climbers, possess a wide range of in- 

 telligence, and nest in all sorts of places, from 

 ground burrows up to hollows in trees twenty 

 feet from the ground. Of all mice, they are 

 probably the most active climbers, and in fleeing 



1. WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE. 



2. le conte's harvest mouse. 



MOLE MOUSE. 



staring heavenward in mute protest against 

 man's inhumanity, an agile White-Footed Mouse, 

 scurrying out of its warm nest of buffalo-hair 

 between the jaws of a buffalo skull, appeals not 

 in vain for my sympathy and protection. Out 

 on the Great Plains the world always seems 

 large enough to contain us both. The great 

 buffalo range of 1883 is now so barren of wild 

 life that to-day even wild mice are objects of 

 interest. From the buffalo to the White-Footed 

 Mouse the time has been less than twenty 

 years. 



Many times in their wanderings from one 

 buffalo carcass to another, these mice have trav- 



from a disturbed home the mother often carries 

 her brood of young clinging to her body. Their 

 food is seeds, small nuts and acorns, grain, and 

 dried meat when available. 



Once in the wilds of Montana, we hauled some 

 old logs to camp, for fire-wood. When one was 

 cut up, we found in it a nest, made chiefly of 

 feathers, containing five White-Footed Mice, 

 snugly housed in the hollow. Packed close 

 against the nest was a pint and a. half of fine, 

 clean seed, like radish seed, from some weed of 

 the Pulse Family. While the food-store was be- 

 ing examined, and finally deposited in a pile upon 

 the open ground, near the tent door, the five 



