222 



RECREATION. 



calicd me and J saw a mouse sitting half 

 erect singing even more sweetly and con- 

 tinuously than a canary bird or any of the 

 known warblers. It was the same mys- 

 terious music I had heard many years be- 

 fore, but not until then had I seen the mu- 

 sician. He sang every day about 3 o'clock 

 in the afternoon, and was scarcely ever 

 without an audience. He seemed to un- 

 derstand he was safe and would allow us 

 to come close to him. Orders were given 

 for his protection, but in a few months he 

 was missing. 



It is probable all the varieties of mice 

 are musical, but our opportunities for 

 knowing it are limited. A mouse which 

 has courage to exhibit his ability to an 

 audience of merciless enemies is truly a 

 living curiosity. 



Nelson E. Jones, M. D., author of the 

 Squirrel Hunters of Ohio, publisher of 

 the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, 

 etc., Circleville, Ohio. 



THE JUMPING MOUSE. 



We have here in Jersey, along the banks 

 of a certain brook, a strange mouse, con- 

 cerning which I should like some informa- 

 tion. Few people here seem to know of 

 it, but such as do call it the kangaroo 

 mouse. I have never seen it except in 

 the immediate vicinity of that one brook. 

 I have often found these mice in the maws 

 of pike or frogs, hence they must go in 

 the water frequently and voluntarily. I 

 have also seen them dead on the railroad 

 where it crosses that brook. A friend of- 

 fers the explanation that the rails hold the 

 heat 0/ the sun some time after sunset and 

 the mice crawl on them for the warmth 

 they give. This same friend has an apple 

 orchard which was planted with ground 

 apples, a coarse grass, on the roots of 

 which grow small, hard kernels. He tells 

 me the part of the orchard near the brook 

 is a complete network of burrows made by 

 these mice, undoubtedly for the kernels as 

 food. As nearly as I can remember, this 

 mouse is about the size of an ordinary 

 house mouse or perhaps a little larger. Its 

 color is like that of a house mouse, with a 

 little more red fur on it. It has long hind 

 legs, on which it squats in much the same 

 manner as the kangaroo; a thick, tapering 

 tail, long ears, and big eyes. With its 

 long hind legs and strong tail it moves, 

 when frightened, in long leaps like a kan- 

 garoo, hence its nam . I can find nothing 

 like it in my little Natural History, and the 

 nearest approach in the Museum of Nat- 

 ural History, New York, is the California 

 jumping mouse; though I could only 

 compare from memory. 



Wm. H. Franklin, Hightstown, N. J. 



Ansv 

 The animal you refer to is undoubtedly 

 the well known jumping mouse of North 

 America, which inhabits nearly the whole 

 of North America, in wooded regions, 

 nearly to latitude 62 degrees. Its scientific 

 name is Zapus hudsonius, and it is the only 

 one of its genus in North America. The 

 head and body is about 3 inches long, and 

 the tail about 4 l / 2 . In winter it hibernates 

 and becomes perfectly torpid in the nest, 

 which it forms underground. It is one of 

 the most interesting of all the many mem- 

 bers of the mouse family. — Editor. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



Your correspondent, Mr. L. L. Bales, of 

 Juneau, Alaska, is certainly at fault when 

 in the November number of Recreation 

 he describes the ptarmigan eggs as being 

 pure white. In the U. S. National Mu- 

 seum's large series of ptarmigan eggs, of 

 the different species, there are but 3 pure 

 white eggs, and it is unnecessary to say 

 they are abnormal. The white-tailed ptar- 

 migan, Lagopus leucurus, lays the lightest 

 colored eggs of any of the group, and they 

 are a vinaceous buff, moderately spotted 

 ever the entire surface with small spots 

 and freckles of a reddish brown, more or 

 less intense in the different sets. The eggs 

 of all the other species which I have ever 

 seen have either a white or a buff ground, 

 thickly spotted and blotched with dark, 

 deep brown, varying to nearly black, and 

 in some cases nearly obscuring the ground 

 color. There are certainl} more than 2 

 species found on the mainland of Alaska, 

 as the white-tailed ptarmigan, Lagopus 

 leucurus, occurs in addition to the 2 enum- 

 erated by Mr. Bales. 



J. H. Riley, United States National Mu- 

 seum, Div. of Birds, Washington, D. C. 



I happened to be in the Rainy river dis- 

 trict of Western Ontario in the spring and 

 summer of 1899. Toward the end of May 

 I found the nest of a ruffed grouse, and 

 being interested in nature I watched the 

 nest for a time. Returning the next day, I 

 noticed a number of eggs scattered around 

 the nest and wondered what the cause was. 

 The bird happened to be away, so I put 

 the eggs back in the nest. The next day 

 I went back to see the nest again. I stole 

 up to the foot of the pine tree and there 

 saw a red squirrel breaking and eating one 

 of the grouse eggs. Other eggs were 

 scattered on the ground; others were 

 broken. I went up to the nest and the 

 squirrel ran up the tree. I picked up the 

 remaining eggs and found them as cold 

 as ice. The bird must have left the nest 

 the day before, when the eggs were first 

 scattered. 



A. D. W., Ripley, Ont, 



