Nov. 32, 1888. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



843 



JUMPING MICE AND THE PORCUPINES; 



AND THE SUBORDER DUPLIClDENTATA. 

 BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M.D., C.M.Z.S., ETO. 



ZAPUS HUDSONIUS, the jumping mouse, is the sole 

 species of the only genus of the family Zapodida?., 

 the first family we have to deal with in this contribu- 

 tion, and in it I will close with tho North American 

 Rodentia. This interesting Little animal measures from tip 

 to tipj when adult, between seven and eight inches, the 

 tail being considerably longer than the body. It is white 

 on its lower parts, while on the back and superior aspects 

 it is of a reddish brown. Ranging over North America 

 generally, although nowhere abundant, it is known in 

 some localities as the Canada jerboa, it having much the 

 appearance of one of those animals, with its long hind 

 and short forelegs, and its power of taking long leaps. 

 Mr. 0. 0. Abbott, in comparing the habits of hibernation 

 in the common white-footed mouse (H. leucopus) and 

 Zapus, says: "These two mice, popularly so called, hiber- 

 nate with regularity in one sense, but differ inter Se in 

 another. The former {Zapus) once torpid, remains so 

 until spring, a few warm days in winter failing to rouse 

 them; but the white-footed mouse seems simply to sleep 

 soundly rather than grow torpid, and responds with con- 

 siderable promptness to any disturbance. The jumping 

 mouse builds a, nest of leaves and grass at a considerable 

 depthfrom the surface of the ground (not a 'ball of mud,' 

 as stated in the 'Enelyclopedia Britanica,' art. 'Jerboa'), 



Canada PoRcuprsrE (E. d. dorsatus). 



Drawn by the author. Reduced. 



and, once fairly settled therein, is beyond the various sud- 

 den changes of our winters; the white-f ooted mouse, on the 

 contrary , utilizes an old bird's nest, or has a nesting place 

 beneath a log or in a half-decayed stump. In such posi- 

 tions, of course, the occupant is more likely to be dis- 

 turbed, and is also directly exposed to the varying tem- 

 perature. Is it to meet the requirements of his condition 

 that this mouse lays tip a goodly stock of food during the 

 autumn? Something the jerboa, or jumping mouse, does 

 not do. However this may be, the fact remains, that both 

 these rodents are quite sensitive to cold, and hibernate as 

 soon as the winter sets in ; yet how differently is this fac- 

 ulty exercised!"— (Science, May 2, 1884.) 



Zapus may have several litters during a summer, and 

 the female bring forth from three to four each time. 

 Sometimes the mother may be seen dragging her semi- 

 hairless progeny along, bumping them over the ground 

 as they hang on like grim death to her teats. 



This animal in leaping takes a course in zigzags, clear- 

 ing two or three yards at a time, springing with its hind- 

 feet, but landing on its forefeet at each bound. Audubon 

 says that it is certainly the most agile of animals in the 

 entire world's fauna. Farmers sometimes plow it up 

 in their wheat fields, when it makes off in magnificent 

 leaps. It feeds on grain and various kinds of seeds, but 

 rarely does much damage. Strictly nocturnal in its 

 habits, it may be found haunting either the woods or the 

 open cultivated fields. Smaller by all odds than many of 

 its kin in foreign lands, it is when captured found to be 

 a gentle and timid little creature, that, with pains and 

 care, is soon broken to domestication, and makes an inter- 

 esting little pet. 



Next in order In our '"List" we find the Family Octo- 

 dontidce, but as it contains only West Indian forms we 

 will have little or nothing to say about it here. It con- 

 tains two genera, Capromys, with three spec'es in Cuba 

 and one in Jamaica; they are an interesting type of 

 rodents, and Dr. G. E. Dobson, F.R.S., has given us an 

 admirable review of their anatomy. The other genus, 

 Plagiodontia, has but one species, the P. oedium of Hayti 

 and Jamaica, and is quite nearly related to Capromys. 

 Space will not permit of my touching upon its habits 

 here. 



Following these Antillian forms of rodents, we come 

 next to the Family Hystricidce. Created to contain the 

 porcupines, of which animals we have two sj>ecies in our 

 United States fauna, the Canada porcupine (E. d. dor- 

 satus) and the Western porcupine (E. d. epixanthvs), 

 while Synetheres mexicanus is found only in Costa Rica 

 and Mexico. 



In the Northwestern districts of our country I have 

 seen fine specimens of our Western porcupine, and. a 

 number of years ago sent a complete skeleton of one to 

 the Army Medical Museum in Washington. A good idea 

 of the form of the Canada porcupine may be gained from 



the figure of the one I present at the head of this article. 

 It's a clumsy brute, not unlike a beaver in its general 

 outlines, but somewhat smaller than that animal. They 

 vary much in color, from a blackish brown to lighter 

 shades of an ochrish brown, with dingy white shadings 

 on the sides. The quills in this porcupine rarely exceed 

 4in. in length; they may be erected by the animal at pleas- 

 ure; are covered from sight by the hair of the coat, and 

 are very easily detached. I will never forget the boquet 

 of these bristles that adorned the nose of a setter dog, 

 which had run his muzzle into the fur of one of these 

 animals to try and find out what kind of a brute his 

 master had just slain. Thes quills spring from the supe- 

 rior aspects of the animal and are longest on the back; 

 shortest on the head and sides; they are nearly straight, 

 being pointed at their insertional tips, but sharp as 

 needles at their apices. In form they are cylindrical, 

 and many of our northern Indian tribes split them, dye 

 them and use them to ornament then robes and for other 

 similar purposes. I have seen Sioux buffalo robes mag- 

 nificently worked in with these spines of the porcupine,, 

 and stained various colors. When we come to examine 

 a quill carefully, it is found to be reversely barbed along 

 its distal extremity, so that they are really dangerous 

 affairs to get into the flesh, owing to the tendency for it 

 to work in deeper and deeper. Wolves and dogs not in- 

 frequently come to a painful death from this cause. For 

 this reason our Northwestern Indians detest the animal, 

 as they often have some of their favorite canine pets de- 

 stroyed by it. It is said that both cougars and lynxes 

 have been found dead in the forests with their mouths 

 filled with these quills, and all the evidences of the pres- 

 ence of destructive inflammation therefrom. This species 

 has five toes on its hinder pair of feet, all armed with 

 long curved claws, while the anterior pair, similarly 

 provided, possesses in each foot but four toes; its ears are 

 small and quite concealed in the surrounding fur: fur- 

 ther, its tail is short, and its eyes by no means of great 

 size, while the feet are plantigrade, and the pectoral 

 teats four in number. Late in the spring the female 

 gives birth to her two young, and they breed, as a rule, 

 but once during the year; a hollow tree is commonly 

 selected by her for her nest, though other situations are 

 occasionally chosen. 



I hardly knew what to make of the first one I saw as 

 he moved sluggishly along a nearly horizontal limb of a 

 great Cottonwood tree; but it is on the ground that their 

 behavior in the face of the enemy is most remarkable, 

 and a writer at hand says that they "often will not take 

 the trouble to run away, from dog or man, being in this 

 respect very much like the skunk. As the latter relies 

 on his liquid shaft, addressed to the nose, the former 

 seems to put his trust in his thousand barbed arrows, 

 which threaten the flesh. Of the two, the porcupine has 

 the advantage, for when attacked by a dog, wolf, cougar 

 or other ferocious beast, it presses its nose downward, 

 erects its quills, and brandishing its tail, stands ready for 

 the onslaught. If the assailant is inexperienced, and 

 unwarily seizes the hostile party with its mouth, he 

 instantly retreats with a howl of pain and dismay, for 

 his nose, lips, jaws and tongue are stuck full of the barbs 

 of the porcupine. Unless some one extracts them, they 

 work deeper and deeper, and often result in the death of 

 the sufferer." 



Richardson asserts that they are hardly fit for food, 

 and as in all vegetable feeders among wild game, are not 

 infrequently found infested with intestinal worms. Much 

 of their time during the day is spent in sleep, but when 

 abroad they feed upon the bark of a number of varieties 

 of trees, often denuding, in the case of a single animal, 

 as many as a hundred trees during a season. In this way 

 it is very destructive, and when once it attacks a tree, it 

 usually never leaves it, except to repair at night to its 

 nest, until every vestige of bark has been eaten off. 

 Porcupines in most Eastern districts are now becoming 

 quite rare, and while they are fully capable of becoming 

 completely domesticated, they are not, upon the whole, 

 ' very engaging pets. Although I have never personally 



heard it, it is said that the animal during the night often 

 gives vent to a low and peculiar cry, which once recog- 

 nized is not likely to be forgotten again; its well-known 

 growl when teased by its captor is quite characteristic. 

 These animals when feeding will often sit up on their 

 hams like a "prairie dog," and use their forepaws to hold 

 their food while they gnaw it off; it is stated that they 

 are very fond of green corn, and such fruit as apples, as 

 well as the entire list almost of the garden vegetables. 



Many of the habits of the Canada porcupine are but 

 still imperfectly known to us and demand careful study; 

 wliile its structure, and the structure of its young at var- 

 ious stages, would by no means be labor thrown away at 

 the hands of the comparative morphologist. 



The Suborder Simplicidentata of the Rodentia, which 

 we have heretofore been considering, closes with the 

 family Caviidce, the cavies, but as all of the species, 

 which I have already enumerated in a previous article, 

 are either West Indian, Mexican or South American, we 

 will here pass them by; the well-known guinea-pigs, the 

 agontis, as well as the paca, are examples of this highly 

 interesting group of rodents. 



[to be concluded.] 



NOTES FROM MISSOURI. 



THE summer with us here in northern Missouri was 

 very cool and rainy, but the autumn has been dry 

 and pleasant. We have most all kinds of migratory 

 birds. A few Southern mockingbirds reach this latitude, 

 appearing in May and going South during the latter part 

 of July. 



Regardless of the unfavorable season, the game fowls 

 and animals are plentiful. Grouse are an average and 

 began to fly about Oct. 10. Quail are numerous, likewise 

 rabbits and squirrels. Mallard and other species of ducks 

 annually rear their broods here among the ponds of the 

 Mississippi River lowlands. Great flocks of mallards 

 began coming from their summer retreats north of us 

 about Oct. 15. To-day, Oct. 31, a large flock of wild 

 geese passed southward, the first I have observed this 

 autumn. 



Immense numbers of brant and loons have been flying 

 by for two weeks. The migratory birds have practically 

 disappeared. A few mud hens, some chewinks, and soli- 

 tary representatives of the robin and the bluebird 

 families yet remain, as stragglers of the migratory army. 

 Meadow larks and wrens took their return flight in the 

 early days of October. The forests are silent, so far as 

 concerns the sweet songs of the many species of birds. 

 During the whole year I have seen but few passenger 

 pigeons. They were in former years very numerous 

 here, and could be seen in flocks composed of millions of 

 birds every spring and autumn. But strangely they have 

 virtually disappeared from this region. I read not long 

 since of two very large roosts of passenger pigeons, one 

 roost situated in Texas and the other one in some Pacific 

 State. What accounts for this principle of forsaking a 

 certain locality? Food is abundant here for the pigeons, 

 as this region is nearly one-half forest. May it not be 

 due to the workings of civilization, such as the awe in- 

 spiring presence of man, the noisy cities, and the alarm- 

 ing steamers and railway trains? And while we are 

 talking on this subject, what has become of the swan? 

 This noble fowl was tolerably plentiful here in former 

 times, and even hatched its brood along the densely 

 covered shores of our lowland lakes. But they have 

 given us good-bye and have sought climes more congenial, 

 and their musical voice is no more heard in our land. 



Alexandria, Mo. J- B. 



New York, May 17. 1S8S.— 17. S. Cartridge Co., Lowell, Mass.: 

 Gentlemen— It affords us much pleasure to report upon your 

 latest Climax shells witu strong primers received this morning. 

 We have tested them with Schultze powder, and rind then? simply 

 excellent in every particular and practically eoual to the hest 

 adapted English primer. Two and a half drams to 3J4drs. of 

 Schultze powder in 12-bores and to Mrs. in 10-gauge worked to 

 perfection in your shells, loaded simply like black powder and 

 without ramming. Very truly yours (Signed), Von Lengerke & 

 Detmoed.— Adv. 



