MUS MUSCULUS. 
163 
in the fertile valleys along the outskirts of the Wilderness, living in 
the fields during the short summer season, and returning to the 
dwellings, barns, and haystacks at the approach of winter. 
It is omnivorous, and, in the main, nocturnal. It usually gives 
birth to from five to nine young at a time, and has several litters in 
a season. 
The House Mouse as a Vocalist. 
It has long been known that individuals of the common House 
Mouse occasionally possess very exceptional vocal powers. These 
“singing mice” have appeared, from time to time, in various parts 
of the country, and their performances have been eagerly listened to 
and carefully recorded by the delighted hearers. 
My aunt, Mrs. Helen M. Bagg, once had a singing Mouse in her 
house at Detroit, Michigan, and has kindly favored me with the fol- 
lowing account of it : “Early in the spring of 1 8 5 8 I would occasion- 
ally hear faint musical sounds, like the warbling of a young bird, issue 
from the china closet, which was on one side of the dining room. 
Several days passed before I could get any clew to the sounds. We 
had singing birds — a mocking bird and canaries — and every one de- 
clared it was the birds I had heard, but I felt equally certain the 
sounds came from the closet. One afternoon when the house was 
quiet, the children taking their naps, and the cook having ceased to 
rattle her dishes, I opened the closet door and sat down where I 
could have a full view of the inside. After a long and patient waiting 
a mouse peered out from behind the plates, climbed up a little way on 
the brackets, and, after looking around several times, began to sing! 
I need not describe my feelings. Its song was not much of a song, 
‘ as songs go,' but still a distinct musical effort. Sometimes it would 
run up an octave and end with a decided attempt at a trill. Some- 
times it would try to trill all the notes. An octave seemed to be 
about its range. I could distinctly see the expansion and vibration 
of its throat and chest as one can in a song bird. Its favorite posi- 
