138 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
After a fortnight I set both at liberty in the woods. The meadow- 
mouse kept on running, dodging behind logs and sticks, using every 
shelter, but still running until it found a hole. The deermouse gave 
three or four long bounds, got behind a tree, then squatted flat on the 
leaves. I followed and found him. Again he got out of sight and 
squatted. This he did as often as I followed, until he had the luck to 
find a hole. When squatted on the leaves his color so closely matched 
them, that he was very hard to see. 
Greenwich, Connecticut, October 3, 1919. Found a deermouse^s nest 
in the tangle about 18 inches from the ground and against the side of 
a log. It contained 2 adults, and 2 young ones about two-thirds 
grown; I should say they were 6 weeks old. 
October 5. Found the mother and 4 young in the nest. 
October 7. Both adults in the nest to-day and, with them 5 young 
in gray pelage. 
October 8. Last night for the first time it was very cold. Our first 
touch of frost; this morning the nest was empty. 
October 9. Mild once more; 4 young in the nest this morning. 
October 10. Dull and warm. The mother and her brood in the nest 
this morning. 
October 11. Mother and young in nest. 
October 13. Frost last night, the nest empty. Found a young deer- 
mouse drowned in a well 50 feet away. 
October 14> One young deermouse in nest to-day. 
October 16. Warm night, one old deermouse in nest; one young 
fished alive out of the well (one drowned there on 13th) ; a third found 
wandering alone 40 feet from the nest. Maybe all are of the same brood. 
October 17. Sharp frost again last night. The deermouse nest 
deserted finally. 
These observations seem to show first, that both parents take part in 
caring for the young; which implies that the species is strictly monog- 
amous. Second, that they have more than one nest, and these are 
suited to different kinds of weather; this habit is known also among 
squirrels. 
As a concluding item, a note from my journal of October, 1904: I 
found a deermouse^s nest among some old carpets in an outhouse. It 
had an unpleasant smell; when opened it contained three tiny young 
ones, apparently new-born, dead and dried up, and with these the dead 
body of the mother at the moment of maternity with another young 
one. Mere fragments of evidence, but enough to bring a sympathetic 
tear to the eye of one who knew the mother^s pain. 
