White-footed mouse

“ The white-footed mouse is much more common along the fences and in the woods than one would suspect. One winter day I set a mouse-trap—the kind known as the delusion trap—beneath some ledges in the edge of the woods, to determine what species of mouse was most active at this season. The snow fell so deeply that I did not visit my trap for two or three weeks. ”

“ He is known to the farmer as the "deer mouse," to the naturalist as 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. ”

“ This handiwork of the white-footed or deer mouse can be found in almost every field or tangle of undergrowth; the nest of a field sparrow or catbird being used as a foundation and thickly covered over and tightly thatched with leaves. Now and then, even in mid-winter, we may find the owner at home, and as the weasel is the most bloodthirsty, so the deer mouse is the most beautiful and gentle of all the fur-coated folk of our woods. ”

“ It would be interesting to know if they seize hold of their mother by instinct when danger threatens, or if they simply retain the hold which they already have. I believe the flight of the family always takes place in this manner with this species of mouse.
I suspect that our white-footed mouse is capable of lending a hand to a fellow in distress ”

“ The numerous species of mice of the genus Peromyscus in North America include a great variety of little beasts, many of which are distinguished by beauty of form and color. One of the most striking and picturesque individualities among these is found in the big-eared rock mouse, which is characterized by its great ears, a thick, soft coat of buffy brown fur, and a long, well-haired tail. In size it exceeds the common house mouse and even the white-footed mice which share its haunts. ”

“ During the period between July 29 and August 28 a total of one hundred and seventy mouse traps set in the flood-plain forests along the Galien River took for the first nights' trapping, twenty-two northern white-footed mice and one house mouse. Short-tailed shrews, more white-footed mice, pine voles, and a jumping mouse [Pg 8] were secured on nights after the first. Larger traps took during the whole period one raccoon, one New York weasel, and two woodchucks. Several other woodchucks and a number of red squirrels were seen. ”

“ The mouse is a lively little animal, and one of the most timid, although he eats in the trap as soon as he is caught. The brown mouse can very rarely be tamed; but white mice are bred and brought up in a state of domestication, and the young fancier can obtain a pair for a shilling at any of the fanciers. ”

“ It is possible to buy white mice at any bird-fancier's, but there are reasons why it is better to have at least half your pets of the ordinary house mice rather than to have [Pg 57] them all white. One is that your mother will look with more favor upon your mouse pet if it is one the less from the number that annoy her.
There is hardly any necessity of telling a boy how to set a mouse-trap, and in almost every house his labor will be very quickly rewarded with as many as he can care for. ”

“ The length of the harvest mouse, including the tail, is four inches. Its colour a beautiful reddish yellow on the back and sides, the whole of the under parts being a pure white. The head is small, the nose sharp, the eyes large and prominent and jet black. The whiskers are numerous but weak, ears short, the fore-feet small, with four toes and a rudimentary thumb. The nails are long in proportion, and with them the animal firmly holds its food, and conveys it to his mouth. The hind feet are much longer and stronger, having five distinct toes, long and covered with fine hair to the nails. ”

“ As might be expected from its name, the BANK-VOLE (Arvícola glaréolus) is to be sought upon the banks of our brook. As its tail is nearly as long as that of the common mouse, it is often called the “long-tailed field mouse,” and it may easily be distinguished from a true mouse which does inhabit the country by the shortness of its ears, the bluntness of its snout, and the white colour of its paws. ”

“ The House Mouse exhibits a considerable range of variation in colour, both darker and lighter than the type, and many of these variations have been bred from and their peculiarities perpetuated and accentuated in confinement as "fancy" mice. Of these the most familiar are the White Mice, really albinos with pure white fur, pink eyes, feet, and tail. There are also dark, nearly black variations, and spotted examples. Sometimes one is surprised at night to find that the house is tenanted by a musical mouse that runs up the scale in what appears to be an attempt at a little song. ”

“ Piebald mice are sometimes produced by a union of the common field-mouse with a white mouse: there are also some expensive varieties, such as the black mouse, and the black and white mouse, which the young gentlemen who have more money than wit may purchase for a few shillings each ”

“ 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 mice are terribly afraid. Now and then a single mouse for a moment escapes the general fear. A mood comes over such a one and a light comes into his eyes. When the noises run through the houses he makes up stories about them. “The horses of the sun are hauling wagon loads of days over the tops of trees,” he says and looks quickly about to see if he has been heard. When he discovers a female mouse looking at him he runs away with a flip of his tail and the female follows. ”

“ Thus was one unique distinction stolen from the harvest mouse. But to this day the harvest mouse shrugs his furry shoulders and says, that there are plenty of dwarfs with abnormal teeth in his own family, if the museum men want them.
He can afford to be superior, for he has yet another unique distinction left, and that is not likely to be taken from him.
[Pg 120] Of all the four-footed creatures in Great Britain and Ireland, he, and he only, has a prehensile tail. The middle of it he can bend through half a circle, the last half-inch he can wrap completely round a cornstalk. ”

“ They are pretty, yellowish brown creatures, white underneath, and have large, dark, brilliant eyes and erect ears giving them a very handsome expression. Their hind legs are much longer and stronger than those of the ordinary mouse and they are capable of making extraordinary leaps like the animals from which they get their common name. ”

“ The Wood Mouse is about three and a half inches long from the long snout to the base of the tail; and the tail by itself falls only a very little short of that length. The fur on the upper parts is a dark yellow-brown; the under parts white. In adults the line of demarcation is always distinct. There is a spot of buff or orange on the chest whose development in certain local races has enabled recent systematists to make five species out of this one. ”

“ The Northwestern jumping mouse is a little larger than a 57 house mouse, head and body about four inches, tail about six inches. The back is dark, sprinkled with buff; a broad band of buff, sprinkled with blackish hairs, extends along the sides; the underparts are pure white. The long tail is dull gray above, white below, and almost naked except for a tiny tuft of dark hair at the tip. ”

“ 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 ”

“ A first visit to a famous collection is likely to occasion considerable surprise to those who are only familiar with the white and pink-eyed variety and the common little grey-backed member of the household.
During the last two or three years various fanciers have been industriously endeavouring to improve the breed, and they have succeeded in producing the most beautiful specimens. The show mouse is larger than the common household specimen. The eye is much larger and fuller, and the coat would not disgrace a thoroughbred racer. But the chief points are colour and marking. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sometimes it ran from point to point like any other mouse, but now and then it would rear itself on its hind-legs, and leap several feet at a single bound! In this it evidently assisted itself by pressing its tail—in which it possesses muscular power—against the snow. This peculiar mode of progression has obtained for it the name of the “jumping mouse,” and among the Indians “deer”-mouse, because its leap reminds them of the bounding spring of the deer. But there are still other species of “jumping mice” in America that possess this power to a greater degree even than the Mus leucopus. ”

“ The white mouse gained courage at last, and being very hungry it ate the corn nubbin itself, daintily pulling off each grain of corn, and eating out just the heart of the kernel.
For days and weeks the white mouse roamed through the wainscot solitary and alone, shunned by every rat and mouse in the place, vainly traveling over the secret passageways, always hoping to turn some corner and meet Muff, his lost mate. How he longed for company, but he never could manage to get close enough to a brown mouse to become acquainted. One day he met a little company of very young mice ”

“ The mouse is dark-coloured, but its teeth and fore-parts are white and luminous. The mouse Hiraṇyakas, or the golden one, in the Pańćatantram, is the black or grey mouse of night. It is the red squirrel that, in an Æsopian fable, answers to the query of the fox why it sharpens its teeth when it has nothing to eat, that it does so to be always prepared against its enemies. In the Edda, the squirrel runs upon the tree Yggdrasil, and sets the eagle and Nidhögg at discord. ”

“ Now and then a bold mouse stands upon his hind legs and addresses the others. He declares he will force his way through the walls and conquer the gods who have built the house. “I will kill them,” he declares. “The mice shall rule. You shall live in the light and the warmth. There shall be food for all and no one shall go hungry.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Grey sits patiently before her mouse-hole, listening to the faint scratching of its owner’s feet deep down in the earth. The minutes race; her mind is utterly absorbed with the one thrilling subject—mouse!
Presently a distant rumble rises to her ears; grains of sand are rolling down the tunnel. The sound, which no human ear could hope to distinguish, increases in volume until it culminates in a faint flap: a baby mouse with thin white legs and a tail three times as long as its body crouches curled up at the entrance! ”

“ The jumping mouse is a lover of woods or copses, but it comes also to the open ground, where, probably, it is in more peril from bird-foes; and it will visit garden shrubberies, and build a nest for itself in the corner of some zigzag fence. Some people who have watched this mouse have told us how active it is by night, but it may often be seen on a summer's day running home to the nest, with the pouches in its cheeks full of food, to be hoarded up or given to the young ones. It can run with great speed, as well as leap. ”

“ It has a pointed snout, the bright, bead-like eyes are black, the large, sensitive brownish ears are nearly half the length of the head, and the soft, brownish-grey fur is only a little paler on the under parts. Outdoor specimens are often more yellow-brown in coloration. As compared with the Wood Mouse we have this more dusky and uniform coloration, shorter whiskers, smaller eyes, stouter and less flexible tail, and shorter legs. The thumb of the hand is reduced to a mere tubercle. ”