POUCHED JERBOA MOUSE. 
139 
Bristly hairs interspersed ; upper and lower surfaces of tail, and a line on 
the under side of the tarsus, dark brown ; sides, and tip of the tail, white ; 
cheeks, white ; there is a white stripe on the hips ; the legs and under 
surface are white, as also a stripe from the shoulder to the ear. This 
white colour likewise extends high up on the flanks, where it gradually 
mingles with the brown of the back ; nails, brownish. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Male.— Specimen in the British Museum. 
Inches. Lines 
Length of head and body, 5 
“ tail, 6 6 
“ hind feet, 1 6 
Female. — Procured by J. W. Audubon in California. 
Inches. Lines 
Point of nose to root of tail, - 4 6 
Tail, including hair, 7 
Tarsus to end of longest nail, - - - - 1 6 
Ear, inside, from auditory opening, ... 7 
Longest hair of whiskers, 2 4 
HABITS. 
The pretty colours and the liveliness of this little kangaroo-like animal, 
together with its fine eyes and its simplicity in venturing near man, of 
whom it does not seem afraid, would no doubt make it a favourite pet in 
confinement. It is able to exist in very arid and almost barren situations, 
where there is scarcely a blade of anything green except the gigantic and 
fantastic cacti that grow in Sonora and various other parts of Western 
Mexico and California. As John W. Audubon and his party travelled 
through these countries the Dipodomys Phillippsii was sometimes almost 
trampled on by the mules, and was so tame that they could have caught 
the animal by the hand without difficulty. 
This species hop about, kangaroo fashion, and jump pretty far at a leap. 
When the men encamped towards evening, they sometimes came smelling 
and moving about the legs of the mules, as if old friends. One was 
observed by J. W. Audubon just before sunset ; its beautiful large eyes 
seemed as if they might be dimmed by the bright rays which fell upon 
them as it emerged from a hole under a large boulder, but it frisked gaily 
about, and several times approached him so nearly, as he sat on a stone, 
that he could have seized it with his hands without any trouble, and without 
rising from his hard seat. 
