Dec. 29, 1900.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
806 
stands just what will take place. She knows that I am 
about to kindle a fire, and she rushes to a shelf near the 
stove and frantically drums the danger signal. She also 
does a lot of drumming which J do not understand. She 
tries to tell me in her dumb language that a fire will 
destroy her little family. When the mouse finds that I 
do not heed her appeal, she knows that her family will 
be destroyed and can be saved only by her own hasty 
efforts. The one thing to do is to remove her babies to a 
place far away from the death dealing heat. If the young 
mice are small, in some mysterious way the mother mouse 
induces each youngster to cling to a teat, when the whole 
family is removed in this novel manner to a safe retreat 
beneath the cabin. It is a comical sight to see the old 
mouse crawling along a log with eight or ten raw, shape- 
less things clinging to her like grim death. The hole 
in the wall that leads outside is small, and the old mouse 
has a long struggle to get her load safely through. Now 
and then a young mouse drops oflf and remains squirming 
where it chances to fall. The mother invariably returns 
and gathers in the missing. 
When the young mice are half-grown, they are removed 
in a different manner. They are now too large to be 
dragged as before. They are also too large to be carried 
by the neck. The mother overcomes this difficulty by 
doubling up the young mouse and then grasping it by the 
crossed legs. The young mouse turns its head inward 
and holds it in place by bitting on to one of its own legs. 
In this way a young mouse is made up into a round, com- 
pact bundle. W^hen the hole in the wall is reached it 
often happens that the mother cannot push her load 
through. After several unsuccessful efforts she turns 
about and backs through the hole, dragging the load after 
her. 
All in all, the white-footed mouse has afforded me 
much pleasure, but at times it becomes a nuisance. At 
one time my cabin was haunted by a strange sound. The 
sound was simple enough, only a sharp click repeated over 
and (jver. Sometimes, however, the performance would 
change to a succession of clicks. For six weeks I vainly 
tried to solve the mystery. At last the clicking became 
downright annoying. It would break up my line of 
thought when writing. It would confuse my mind when 
reading, and I often jokingly asserted that this mysterious 
ghostly click, click would send me to the insane asj'^lum. 
At last I traced the .sound to a shelf where I had placed 
an empty cigar box. I investigated, and the mystery was 
solved. A dozen mice occupied the box as a safe retreat 
from their enemy, the stoat. Whenever a mouse entered 
or left the box. the cover was raised, and, falling into its 
place again, made the click that had so annoyed me. 
The box cover was heavy enough to severely pinch a 
mouse's tail, but the cunning mice had provided for this 
danger. A hole about the size of a lead pencil had been 
gnawed in the side of the box, just below the cover, and 
afforded a channel for the tail, while it was too small 
to attract the attention of a stoat. 
A more cunningly contrived retreat from an enemy 
could -not be invented. It shows that this wild mouse of 
the woods possesses intelligence which passes far beyond 
the powers of instinct. 
It would take a volume to record the incidents that 
have transpired in connection with these mice during the 
fiftcofx y^^r< nf mj' Ir^rmit life. 
Some of these incidents are comical, others pathetic, 
and, alas ! others are tragic. One in the comical line hap- 
pened to a young man from the city who thirsted for 
more knowledge of the wild things. He stayed one 
moonlight evening to see the mice eat. It often hap- 
pened, when the mice were gathered about a loaf of 
bread, that a star-nosed mole would appear and scatter 
them in all directions. If I chanced to be sitting near 
it was no unusual thing for a mouse to run up my trousers 
leg. I kindly allowed the young man the post of honor 
near the bread. Just what I expected took place. The 
mole appeared, and a frightened mouse rushed up the 
young man's trousers leg. With a war whoop that would 
have frightened an Indian, he bounded into the dooryard. 
The mouse escaped from beneath his coat collar before he 
got out of the cabin. The young fellow danced aroimd 
like a crazy man. Whenever his clothes touched him he 
thought the mou,se was getting in its deadly work, and 
administered slaps that must have raised blisters. When 
I could control my laughter I told him that the mouse 
had escaped. I could not induce hitn to enter the cabin 
again. 
The nests of these mice are globular, but are varied to 
fit the surroundings. Near the cabin they are made of 
bits of paper matted with cotton batting and a soft wool 
manufactured by the mice from my old clothes. 
The nests remote from the cabin are made of bits of 
dried leaves, grasses and plant down. These last are 
usually placed in a tangle of cat brier. Many of these 
nests are occupied through the ' winter. I exainined one 
last week. It was about 5 inches in diameter and was 
composed of bits of leaves and milkweed silk. It was 
rain and frost proof. 
I sometimes find nests in tin cans. Once I found a 
nest in a paper bag. The paper bag was in a tangle of 
cat brier. It was nearly 3 feet from the ground, and 
doubtless was lodged where found by the wind. 
The mother mouse is devoted to "the welfare of her 
little family, which may number anywhere from four to 
ten. When the young mice are small thev are raAv look- 
ing things, but are tough, wiry and tenacious of life. At 
this stage, nii' grown moles will destroy a iamily in a 
few seconds if it were not for the Avatchful care of the 
mother. • 
As the young mice grow they change the'r coats to a 
dark lead color, which they retain until the fi.rst moult. 
The white-footed mouse will cat about everything edible 
found in the woods. It is fond of mushrooms and never, 
like human beings, eats of the poisonous varieties. I am 
.sorry to state that it will eat young birds if small and 
helpless. It eats insects, berries, seeds, nuts, bread, cheese 
and all kinds of meat. 
It stores up food for winter in holes in the ground and 
in hollow trees and logs. The mice about my cabin store 
food in anything that comes handy. I sometimes find a 
shoe half-full of nuts and corn. 
The white-footed mouse makes an interesting pet when 
caged. One that reared a family in captivity afforded 
me many proofs of intelligence. 
When, the cabin was too cold for the little ones she 
made them warm and cozy in a globular nest. If the tern- 
perature went up she removed the top of the nest, and if 
the heat from the stove fell directly into the cage she piled 
up the surplus nesting material on the side to protect her 
young. 
The mole that 1 mentioned before, the one that scatters 
the mice, is a singing mole. He zigzags about the cabin 
floor, picking up crumbs, while he sings bird-like notes 
that are as sweet and distinct as the canary's low twitter. 
I see other moles, but I haver never heard but this one 
sing. Ll_l^^_ 
A Sleeping Doe. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Prentice and I left New York for Long Lake West, 
N. Y,, Saturday evening, Dec. 8, arriving at our destina- 
tion about 4:45 A. M. Sunday in the midst of a snow 
storm. The snow that had fallen previous to this storm 
lay about 2^ feet on the ground. After waiting at the 
hotel near the railroad station at Long Lake West until 
nearly daylight, Mr. Roland Christy drove up and took 
us over to his camp on Bear Lake, some four or five miles 
from the railroad. 
The .storm let up shortly afier we had finished break- 
fast, but enough snow had fallen (from 3 to 4 inches) to 
completely obliterate any and all tracks that were made 
in the woods up to about 4 that morning. The snow was 
light, and although not in very good condition for snow- 
shoeing, we started out from camp Avith the intention of 
following the shore of Bear Lake around to the sottth end 
in the hope of starting a deer. 
In the woods the shoeing proved much better than we 
had anticipated, and we were able to jog along at a fair 
gate, when Roland Christy, who was leading the van, 
came upon the tracks of two deer, which we had evidently 
star.ed up. as their tracks in the snow plainly showed 
that they had commenced "jumping" immediately, their 
direction being toward East Charley Mountain. We did 
not follow their trail far, but proceeding along the lake 
shore were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them (a doe 
and a fawn) as they ploughed their way through the 
snow along a ridge, possibly 200 yards to the east of us. 
While we stood watching them a second fawn came 
down over the crest of the ridge, and joining the trail of 
the other two some distance behind, started off in pursuit 
of the mother at a great rate. Proceeding, we skirted 
the lake shore still toward the .south, starting a buck on 
our right, who also skipped around in our front, head'ug 
for East Charley Mountain. 
Reaching the extreme south end of the lake, we left 
the shore trail, cutting through a swamp toward the east 
until we reached an old wood road which led in the direc- 
tion of East Charley Mountain and Lilypad Pond. In 
several places we came upon deer tracks, which showed 
the deer had been jumping, evidently frightened by our 
approach. 
We finally came upon a fresh track where a single deer 
had evidently been walking along but a few hours pre- 
vious. As this was the only track we had found where 
the animal had not been jumping, we decided to follow 
it up. This trail we followed for some distance, pos- 
sibly half a mile, when a point in the trail seemed to take 
on a central aspect, the snow being trampled quite a 
little, and it was noticed that several trails diverged from 
this point. Not giving much attention to the trails, we 
all started oft' together on one of them, only to find that 
after proceeding a little way into the woods the deer 
had turned and retraced her steps to the central point I 
.speak of. 
Starting alone, I followed up two more of these trails, 
and in each case the deer had retraced her steps to the 
central point. As I reached the furthest point in the 
trail I was following, where the deer had turned back. I 
stopped to li.sten. hoping to locate the direction which 
Christy and Prentice had taken in their search for the 
outlet trail. Not hejiring them. I whistled softly, but 
receiving no reply repeated the whistling several times, 
but with the same result. I then concluded that they had 
probably found and taken up the outlet trail and were 
too far away to hear my signal. So. rctrac'ng my own 
trail back to where their tracks in the snow showed me 
they had led off. I immediately took after them on a 
trot. I had not proceeded more than twenty rods, how- 
ever, when I caught a glimp.se of Prentice and Christy, 
standing, evidently looking at something beside the trail. 
At almost the same instant Prentice saw me and mo- 
tioned for me to come quietly up to where he was stand- 
ing. This I did. and following the direction of their gaze 
saw a doe lying asleep under a fallen tree not 25 feet from 
where we stood. The deer lay with her back- toward us, 
her eyes, nose and legs tucked carefully away under her 
warm body; her ears alone standing up e'rect which 
showed the location of her head. Our first thought was 
that possibly she had been hurt in some way. could not 
proceed further through the deep snow and was freezing 
to death, but the fact that the mercury registered 22 
degrees above zero and also the firm tracks in the new 
snow seemed to stand as conclusive evidence that such 
could not be the case. Cautiously we approached the deer. 
Christy on the right. Prentice in the middle, while I took 
up the left of the line. Passing a pine tree bent over with 
its load of heavy snow, I reached up. and taking a hand- 
ful of this .snow in my left hand, crushed it into a more 
or less compact mass, and when within about 8ft. of the 
deer, tossed it .so it struck the animal just behind the 
ear. This did not wake the animal up. a slight shake 
of the neck serving to throw off every particle of the snow. 
.'\t this we could not repress a slight laugh, and vvh'le not 
noi.<y in any sense of the word, it seemed impossible that 
the deer could still remain unconscious of our pres- 
ence. But no move did she make, except a slight move- 
ment of the ears, and her regular breathnig told how- 
soundly she slept. We stood quietly around her then for 
at least two or three minutes. Christy's snowshoe not 
more than an inch or so from her back, and all of us so 
close that it would have been an easy matter for any one 
of us to have reached down and touched the animal's 
back. At a signal we all yelled at the top of our lungs, 
and in a bound the deer was on her feet and facing us! 
At first, in her bewilderment, she took several steps in 
my direction and then with a snort leaped a log and was 
off out of sight as fast as the deep snow would allow her 
to travel, probably the most frightened beast that ever 
walked in the /\dirondack woods. 
The ;ilinvo incident was experienced near the Christy's 
Camp, Saballis Park. Long Lake West, New York, by 
the following pJiriy on Sunday. Dec, g, tgoo: Mr. Roland 
Christy, Stamford, Conn.; Mr. Roland Prentice, New 
^'ork city, and Mr, Hugh Harrison ,Sanford, New 
Brigiiton, N. Y. 
In connection with the above, 1 would add that when 
the deer, startled by our yell, jumped to her feet, she 
latided some 8 feet away from and facing us. It was 
then that she took several steps toward me before jumping 
the log and disappearing in the woods. 
Hugh Harrison Sanford. 
The abo.ve .statement is correct, as related by Mr. 
Sanford. Sartell Prentice, 
e. Roland Christy, Jr. 
[A case somewhat similar to that given by Mr. San- 
ford is related by Mr. H. Ci. Dulog in one of the interest- 
ing sketches which he contributed to Forest and Stream 
in 1890, under the title "Slide Rock from Mary Moun- 
tains'' - (,Vol. XXXV., p. 246, Oct. t6, 1890). The same 
sketch contains the powerful invocation to the spirits of 
rivers and forests and mountains, which is remembered by 
many of our older readers. Mr. Didog's experience with 
the deer— a mule deer doe — in the mountains of the Simil 
Kanreen, was as • follows : . 
"y\,s . we - were riding near some scattering timber we 
started a band of deer and amused ourselves by seeing 
how many of them offered good shots. I was just look- 
ing at one half-tame creature about a hundred yards of¥. 
when Dick called ttty attention to a doe sleeping not thirty 
paces distant from me. Her head, turned back on her 
flank, pointed the other way. I dismounted and walked 
carefully forward. When I was 15 feet away from her (I 
stepped the distance afterward), some subtle aroma or 
faint rustling aroused her. She raised her great ears and 
looked in the opposite direction. Then, slowly turning her 
head, she stared at me for fully a quarter of a minute 
before she jumped up. Never had I seen a deer so 
gentle."] 
MoIItisfcs Eaten by Land Birds. 
In the Forest and Sti^eam of Oct. 13 appeared a let- 
ter from a correspondent of North Attleboro, Mass., ask- 
mg for the identification of certain animals sent to us in 
alcohol, which had been taken from the crop of a ruffed 
grouse. On examination these animals proved to be 
slugs ( 'rcbuiiiaip/iorus carolinensis) of a kind commonly 
found in woods under decaying sticks and bark. 
^ At about the same time Mr. H. M. Langdale, of Peters- 
field, Hampshire, England, sent to the editor of the Lon- 
don Zoologist some snails, thirty-nine of which he had 
taken from the crop of a Avood pigeon shot in' County 
Kildare. Tieland. asking for their identification, and de- 
.clarmg that an instance of this sort had never before 
come to his notice. He stated that the bird was in first 
rate condition, and that grain was easily obtainable in 
the neighborhood at that time of the year, and that there 
was nothing in the b-rd's crop except two hawthorn 
berries and one oat. 
The snails sent were identified by the editor as the 
amber snail {Succinea putris), an amphibious species 
which spends its winter in the mud of springs and ponds, 
but IS seldom seen in the water except in the spring of 
the year. He quotes also Mr. Collins Baker, who in the 
Proceedings of the Chicago Academv of Natural 
Sciences, stated that many passerine birds are fond of 
small mollusks. 
Many readers w^ll remember in this connection the 
article written in Forest and Stream some years ago by 
Mr. Samuel Rhoads, in which many cases were instanced 
where mammals feed, in part at least, on mollusks. 
The Gibraltar Apes. 
It has often been said that the colony of Barbary dpes 
tliat has so long inhabited the summit of the Rock of 
Gibraltar was on the point of extinction, but this is not 
true. Mr. Sclater, the eminent British zoologist recently 
visited the haunts of this species at the top of the' rock and 
found that the colony was in a flourishing condition, and 
that within the last few years its numbers had consider- 
ably increased. Just how long this small colony has in- 
habited Gibraltar is not known. Diligent search in the 
ancient breccia has failed to reveal its bones there and 
this, with die announcement by Sayer in his "History of 
Gibral ar," that certain old documents show that in 1740 
a poll tax was laid on apes as well as on "Jews. Moors 
and other aliens," would seem to indicate that it had in 
■some \vay been introduced in comparatively modern 
times. 
New Animals for the Zoo. 
VV. T. HoRNADAY. Director of the New York 
Zoological Park, who has just returned from an extended 
trip in the W^e.st, secured for the park a considerable num- 
ber of new ammals. many of which have reached their 
destination. Avhile others are on the wav. Among those 
which have already arrived are three 'Columbia black- 
tailed deer, four yearling moose, four muledeer, three 
antelope, a lynx, some wild ducks and swans and other 
smaller specimens. Two buffalo, two grizzly bears and 
some more blacktails and muledeer are on the way. It is 
gratifying to learn of these accessions to the collections 
of the park, and we may liope that the dav is not distant 
when mountain sheep and even white goats will be added 
to the collections. 
At the Taxidermist's. 
There has recently been received from a New York 
customer by F. Sauter, the taxidermist, an albino red- 
tailed hawk. It appears to be an adult bird, and is pure 
white, except for four reddish-brown tail feathers. 
At the same shop has recently been received from 
Mr. Foster, of Newton, N. J., an albino gray squirrel a 
beautiful example. 
Mr. Sauter reports that a surprising number of barred 
owls has been brought in to him this autumn for mount- 
ing. Usually he does not receive more than five or six 
m a season, but this year he has already mounted thirty 
