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MAMMALIA. 
Its disposition is in perfect harmony with its attractive appearance, 
for even the flying squirrel is not more gentle and affectionate. 
When first captured it rarely offers to bite, and within a few hours 
will generally eat from the hand. It manifests neither fear nor 
suspicion while in its box or on one’s person, but if let loose in a 
large room is frightened when approached, and seeks to hide. If 
given the opportunity, it is pretty sure to select some particular 
pocket for its home. It is also fond of running up one’s sleeves, and 
when pinched by the movements of the arm will never think of 
biting. 
A few years ago I had a tame White-footed Mouse to which I had 
become considerably attached. During the day it never left my 
person, and at night was always placed in a large glass jar with an 
abundance of cotton. It would eat almost anything offered, sitting 
on its haunches on my hand or shoulder, and would eagerly lap 
water or milk from a glass, or from a finger wet in the same. It 
was scrupulously neat, continually- washing its face and cleaning its 
soft fur. Many times each day it would reach back and grasp its 
long tail, which, guided and manipulated by the fore-paws, was sev- 
eral times in succession drawn for its entire length through the mouth. 
When let loose on the snow it invariably burrowed down with great 
rapidity. One clear cold day in midwinter, the temperature being 
many degrees below zero, I started on my usual snow-shoe walk 
with the Mouse asleep in my coat pocket. I had gone some distance 
and forgotten its presence, when a faint cry of distress warned me 
that all was not right. It responded to my call only by another cry 
of pain, fainter even than the first. On taking it from my pocket, it 
gave me a slight nip, and almost immediately expired. It was very 
cold, and in a few minutes was frozen through. 
In the selection of sites for their nests scarcely less individuality 
is shown than in the choice of their haunts. Those that live in the 
deep forests commonly build in holes in trees or logs, or in the roots 
of stumps ; while those that dwell in open fields excavate chambers 
