466 
RURAL HOURS. 
of popular speech, are supposed to have brought it to this coun- 
try. The Black Rat, smaller, and now very rare, is said to have 
also come from Europe. We have, however, one native I’at in this 
part of the world, — the American Black Rat — differing from the 
other species, and very rare indeed. 
The common Mouse, also, is an emigrant from Europe. 
We have very many field-mice, however, belonging to the soil. 
Among these is the Jumping- Mouse, which builds its nest in trees, 
and is common through the country. The tiny tracks of the Field- 
Mice are occasionally seen on the snow in winter. 
There is another pretty little animal, called the Deer-Mouse, 
which, strictly speaking, is not considered a mouse. Its body is 
only three inches long, while its tail is eight inches. It takes leaps 
of ten or twelve feet. It is a northern animal, nocturnal, and 
rarely seen, but not uncommon ; they are frequently found iu 
ploughed grass-lands. They feed chiefly on grass and seeds. ^ 
Saturday, 21 th . — Very fine day; quite a full market-day in 
the village ; many people coming in from the country. 
The word store has been declared an Americanism, but it is not 
always easy to decide what words and terms have actually been 
coined on this side the Atlantic, so many of those which pass for 
Yankeeisms being found in the best English writers, like the 
stage of Steme, and the 'pretty considerable of Burke, for instance. 
Many other words and phrases of this disputed nature were un- 
deniably brought over by the original colonists, and have been 
merely preserved by their descendants, while our English kins- 
men have forgotten them. It is quite possible that the word 
“ store ” was first brought into common use when there was but 
one store-house in every new colony, and all the different wants of 
