HESPEROMVS LEUCOPUS. 267 



in the earth several inches below the surface, in which the young are 

 reared. Mr. Kennicott says lu; has known of " numerous instances 

 in which several have been observed inhabiting the same hole in a 

 tree with a family of flying squirrels." 



I have found this species with young at various times from April 

 until November, but do not know how man)- litters it has in a 

 season. As late as the 8th of November (1883) a nest was ploughed 

 up in one of our fields at Locust Grove. It was liniul with feathers 

 and contained half-grown young. On the 29th of the same month I 

 secured in one trap a female and her )'oung. which were two-thirds 

 grown. The mother bore evidence of having recendy been nursed, 

 and the stomach of the youngsters contained nothing but milk. 

 From three to six are produced at a birth. 



The \oung are leaden-gray in color and their ears are dispropor- 

 tionately large. Late in June the first litter begins to show pale 

 fawn color — generally commencing on the flanks. 



Throughout its southern range, and even so far north as southern 

 New England and portions of New York, the White-footed Mouse, 

 like the red, gray, and flying sc^uirrels. is known to construct "out- 

 side nests " for the reception of its young. Such nests are usuall}- 

 more or less cocoa-nut shaped, and sonietimes measure a foot in 

 longest dianieter. They consist of moss, grasses, leaves, inner bark, 

 and other similar substances. The opening is at or near the bottom. 

 They are commonly placed on a horizontal branch at a varying dis- 

 tance from the orround. Those; that I ha\'e found have o-enerallv 

 been in thickets overrun with Sun'Ia.v, and were rarely more than ten 

 feet high. Nests of birds are sometimes refitted and occupied by 

 these animals. In the Adirondacks I have never known them to 

 build or inhabit outside nests. 



Dr. Barton, in 1804, published a note "On a species of North- 

 American Wandering Mouse," which, from the meagre description 

 given, seems to have been the Wliite-footed Mouse. The Doctor 

 says : — 

 18 



