Deer mouse

“ Other deer mouse nests were found in an unused typewriter, in the pocket of an old coat, in a window frame, under a piece of tar paper on the ground, in a cavity in the ground under a board, between a ceiling and a loose bit of roofing paper, under rocks and logs, in hollows in logs, and in an unused nest of a wood rat. Where plant cover is dense, nests are placed on the surface of the ground, as under thick growths of tumbleweed (Salsola) in eastern Washington.
Deer mice are definitely nocturnal. Of thousands of specimens trapped only a few were taken in the daytime. ”

“ The tiny tracks of the Field-Mice are occasionally seen on the snow in winter.
There is another pretty little animal, called the Deer-Mouse, which, strictly speaking, is not considered a mouse. Its body is only three inches long, while its tail is eight inches. It takes leaps of ten or twelve feet. It is a northern animal, nocturnal, and rarely seen, but not uncommon; they are frequently found in ploughed grass-lands. They feed chiefly on grass and seeds. ”

“ His singing mouse was a deer or white-foot mouse. This mouse is found all over the United States, and while several other kinds are known to sing, the deer-mouse is the sweetest of the singers.
These mice can be very easily tamed, and live happily in cages, like dormice. ”

“ The White-Footed Mouse, or Deer Mouse. On the wind-swept divides and coulees of the short-grass region of what once were the Buffalo Plains of Montana, only the boldest and most resourceful wild mice can survive. There in 1886 we found a white-footed mouse species (Peromyscus leucopus) , nesting in the brain cavities of bleaching buffalo skulls, on divides as bare and smooth as golf links.
In 1902, while hunting mule deer with Laton A. Huffman in the wildest and most picturesque bad-lands of central Montana, we pitched our tent near the upper waterhole of Hell Creek. ”

“ The ordinary gait of the deer mouse is a steady run. When frightened it may leap a distance of one foot or more. When surprised in its nest it usually remains in the vicinity, hopping about in confusion, returning time after time to the exposed nest.
The food of deer mice consists principally of vegetable material such as seeds, nuts, berries, and the soft parts of fleshy plants. ”

“ The rice-field mouse also is a southern animal; aquatic in its habits, it abounds on the banks of rice-fields and in coast-marshes. Widely distributed in this country, especially common in the west, is the interesting white-footed mouse, deer-mouse, or wood-mouse. It is fawn above, below white or light gray, its black eyes are large and very brilliant, its feet are snow-white. Pure white mice are albinos or sports. Their white offspring, and other “fancy mice”—black and white, yellow, black, brown, mauve and blue — are prized as pets; many become very tame and take readily to training. ”

“ One of the prettiest and most abundant of our native mice is the deer mouse, also called the white-footed mouse; a very beautiful creature, nocturnal in his habits, with large ears, and large, fine eyes full of a wild, harmless look. ”

“ It resembles the deer mouse in general proportions. The ears are large and naked and the black eyes are large and protruding. The tail is bushy, squirrel-like. The feet are small and have furry soles. The fur is soft and silky. ”

“ These paths seem an invention of the meadow mice, and, affording them a unique escape from danger, they doubtless, in a great measure, account for the extreme abundance of the little creatures. When a deer mouse or a chipmunk emerges from its hollow log or underground tunnel, it must take its chances in open air. It may dart along close to the ground or amid an impenetrable tangle of briers, but still it is always visible from above. ”

“ The Deer Mouse went inside and sat on his beechnuts. Then he thought and thought and thought. He knew very well that it was a Red Squirrel, for the Red Squirrels are not so thrifty as most of the nut-eaters. They make a great fuss about gathering food in the fall, and frisk and chatter and scold if anybody else comes where they are busy. For all that, the Chipmunks and the Deer Mice work [Pg 202] much harder than they. It is not always the person who makes the greatest fuss, you know, who does the most. ”

“ One might think that the Meadow Mice and the Grouse would care less for each other after that, but it was not so. It [Pg 197] never is so if people who make trouble are quick to say that they are sorry, and those who were hurt will keep patient and forgiving.
It was only the night after this happened that one of the Deer Mice had a great fright. His home was in a Bee tree in the forest. The Bees and he had always been the best of friends, and now that they were keeping close to their honeycomb all winter, the Deer Mouse had taken a small room in the same tree. ”

“ The eyes are large and protrude slightly. The ears are large, erect and naked. The tail is sparsely furred with short, posteriorly directed hairs. The color of the upper parts varies from yellowish buff in gambelii to reddish brown in oreas and dusky in austerus. Young deer mice are gray or bluish gray above. Underparts and feet are white. The tail is bicolored, being dusky above and white below.
Fig. 106. Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus austerus) , in captivity, Seattle, Washington, September 18, 1939. (Fish and Wildlife Service photo by Victor B. Scheffer, No. 723.) ”

“ Our wood mouse or deer mouse retreats before the ordinary house mouse in exactly the same way that the European wood mouse does, and not a whit more. Our big wood rat stands in the same relation to the house [Pg x] rat. Casting aside these cases, it seems to me, looking at the mammals, that it would be quite impossible to generalize as to whether those of the Old or the New World are more fecund, are the fiercest, the hardiest, or the strongest. ”

“ The deer mouse is the most abundant and widespread small mammal in northwestern South Dakota. We took specimens in all terrestrial habitats, although the species was commonest in upland situations such as grassy fencerows, rocky areas, and hillsides supporting shrubs, juniper, or pine.
Adult mice in reproductive condition were taken in each month from May through August, although most of our information is for the months of May and June. In the last half of May, seven pregnant females carried an average of 5.0 (4-6) embryos that ranged in crown-rump length from 2 to 10 ”

“ One of the native mammals is the ubiquitous deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. The geographic range of this species includes most of the United States, and large parts of Mexico and Canada.
Another species of the same genus, the pinyon mouse, P. truei, also lives on the Mesa Verde. The pinyon mouse lives mostly in southwestern North America, occurring from central Oregon and southern Wyoming to northern Oaxaca. This species generally is associated with pinyon pine trees, or with juniper trees, and where the pinyon-juniper woodland is associated with rocky ground (Hoffmeister, 1951:vii) . ”

“ The mole, living entirely in his narrow burrows under the ground, has no need for eyes and so has lost the use of those nature first gave him; the shrew, living partly above the ground but mostly in burrows, needs to see a little, and so has very small eyes; the active deer mouse which scorns burrowing and usually lives in hollow trees like the squirrels, needs sharp eyes and so has immense ones.
To protect his big eyes from twigs and briars in the dark, Deer Mouse has a regular fence of whiskers, while Shrew’s little eyes only need a few small whiskers and old Mole needs no whiskers at all. ”

“ Mushrooms and lichens are eaten. Insect remains are present in small quantities in most stomachs examined. Flesh is also eaten and small mammals caught in traps are often eaten by deer mice. Cannibalism appears to be common only in captivity.
Fig. 107. Distribution of the deer mouse in Washington. A. Peromyscus maniculatus oreas. B. Peromyscus maniculatus austerus. C. Peromyscus maniculatus hollisteri. D. Peromyscus maniculatus gambelii. E. Peromyscus maniculatus artemisiae.
Deer mice are often heavily parasitized by tapeworms and roundworms. ”

“ Set 9 mouse traps and 4 steel traps at dusk. Rito de los Frijoles Rito de los Frijoles, Saturday. Aug 6, 1910 August 6, 1910.
Up at 5:15. Perfectly clear morning. In nine mousetraps there were 4 deer mice Peromyscus and bait gone from 2. Put up mice in forenoon. Get archaeological map of Jemez Plateau, New Mexico, Forest Service, U.S. Dept. Agri., 1906. Went up creek in the afternoon and shot one each of the following: Brewer sparrow Spizella breweri, pygmy nuthatch Sitta pygmaea, w. ”

“ The harvest mouse is the smallest and perhaps the prettiest of all the rodents. Its back is tan color, brightening on the sides and legs, while all the under part of the body is snow-white and silky. It is not much over an inch long, has bright eyes, and a long, hairy tail; it lives upon grain, and constructs one of the prettiest of nests for a home. Laying together, with their long leaves, three or four stalks of wheat, oats, or barley, the harvest mouse weaves of grass and leaves a round, beautiful nest, about as large as that of a titmouse. ”

“ And so, as the leaves pile up, we keep a sharp lookout for what the rake uncovers—here, under a rotten stump, a hatful of acorns, probably gathered by the white-footed wood mouse. For the stump gives at the touch of the rake, and a light kick topples it down the hill, spilling out a big nest of feathers and three dainty little creatures that scurry into the leaf-piles like streaks of daylight. They are the white-footed wood mice, long-tailed, big-eared, and as clean and high-bred looking as greyhounds. ”

“ They do not drop the whole distance at once on their prey, but descend vertically, tumbling and fluttering as if wounded, to within ten yards of the earth, and then, after hovering a few seconds more, glide obliquely on to it. They prey on every living creature not too large to be overcome by them. Sometimes when a mouse is caught they tear off the head, tail, and feet, devouring only the body. ”

“ It was a great pet, and grew fat and plump every day. It was so tame that it would sit up just like a squirrel, and eat its little dinner without the least fear of those around.
Sometimes it would wash its face like a kitten, and then, after a race round the room, creep back to its wire cage and take a long nap. It had a soft, warm bed of cotton and wool, which it would pull to pieces before it went to sleep, to the great amusement of all the boys and girls, who daily watched its capers.
No mouse ever had a pleasanter time, or greater dainties at its command. ”

“ Its colour, instead of being of the ordinary “mouse” shade of grey or brown, is red, or reddish; its head is more bullet-like and rounder, and its snout blunter than in any of its congeners; and its tail ends abruptly, giving that appendage a docked and stumpy look, as if by accident or design one-third of its proper length had been cut off in early life; and hence its common designation of short-tailed field-mouse. Every one who has tried to capture a common domestic mouse with the bare hand, knows to his cost how quickly and sharply it can bite ”

“ These were the trails of the shaggy-coated, crop-eared, short-legged, shorttailed meadow mouse. This firm crust had opened to him the opportunity of safety in paths that had been before dangerous in the extreme. He knew where{145} chestnuts had lain open to the sky for months, but he dared not go into the open path to get them. Fox, cat, skunk, weasel, hawk, owl, crow, all watched the paths and the edges of the thick grass for him. He must burrow or die. ”

“ Now and then a mother mouse may be noticed basking in the sun, her little ones round her, generally keeping near the nest.
Usually, it is only when in danger or frightened that the little creature travels along in its peculiar jumping way. It appears that wherever a jumping mouse is, [Pg 300] be it field or woodland, it takes to the thick grass or underbrush, probably because amongst these it finds the food required. But in these places it is in peril from enemies coming suddenly to seize it, and the mouse has a great advantage by being able to leap, and not run through tangled grass. ”

“ I did not even touch the animal; but I thought I heard it scampering through the crevice that led out between the brandy-cask and the timbers of the ship.
On handling the buskins, I discovered to my chagrin that half of the upper leather of one of them was eaten away! The mouse must have been busy to have made so much ruin in so short a time, for it was but a few hours before that I had had the buskins in my hands, and I had then noticed nothing wrong with them. Perhaps several mice had been at work? This was likely enough. ”

“ Not that he is not to be found in the open air; but then it is mostly in the immediate neighbourhood of a house, where he can make his runs in ricks of corn—mountains of food. It is this easy method of despoiling man of his goods that caused the Mouse in ancient days to attach himself to the huge creature that is so impotent in ridding himself of small adversaries. The domestic Mouse is considered to have had its home, its [Pg 93] place of origin, in Asia, whence it has spread to every part of the world where man has gone. ”

“ The young mice must hear this drumming, but pay no attention to it, which proves that they understand the different calls. The old mouse drums on the tin wash-dish, and her claws make a sound that rings out loud and clear. She drums first the long roll to attract my attention, and then drums the water-call. If food is wanted, she drums the food-call after attracting attention.
"IT CARRIES ITS VICTIM BY THE MIDDLE."
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The white-footed mouse has a deadly enemy in the weasel family, the stoat, or ermine, which pursues its defenceless victims every month in the year. ”