EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS, 205 
carried it home in my hand, some three miles. 
It struggled more or less all the way, especially 
when my feet made any unusual or louder noise 
going through leaves, etc. I could count its 
claws as they appeared through the handker¬ 
chief, and once it put its head through a hole. 
It even bit through the handkerchief. Color, 
as I remember, a chestnut ash inclining to 
fawn or cream color, slightly browned. Be¬ 
neath, white. The under edge of its wings (?) 
tinged yellow, the upper, dark, perhaps black, 
making a dark stripe. It was a very cunning 
little animal, reminding me of a mouse in the 
room. Its very large and prominent black eyes 
gave it an interesting, innocent look. Its very 
neat, flat, fawn-colored, distichous tail was a 
great ornament. Its 64 sails ” were not very ob¬ 
vious when it was at rest, merely giving it a 
flat appearance beneath. It would leap off and 
upward into the air two or three feet from a 
table, spreading its “ sails,” and fall to the floor 
in vain, perhaps strike the side of the room in 
its upward spring and endeavor to cling to it. 
It would run up the window by the sash, but 
evidently found the furniture and walls and 
floor too hard and smooth for it, and after some 
falls, became quiet. In a few moments it al¬ 
lowed me to stroke it, though far from confi¬ 
dent. I put it in a barrel and covered it up for 
