Wood mouse

“ Little Tookhees the wood mouse, the 'Fraid One, as Simmo calls him, always makes two appearances when you squeak to bring him out. First, after much peeking, he runs out of his tunnel; sits up once on his hind legs; rubs his eyes with his paws; looks up for the owl, and behind him for the fox, and straight ahead at the tent where the man lives; then he dives back headlong into his tunnel with a rustle of leaves and a frightened whistle, as if Kupkawis the little owl had seen him. That is to reassure himself. In a moment he comes back softly to see what kind of crumbs you have given him. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Besides these parasitic mice, there are a host of field- and forest-mice in this and other countries. One of the best-known English species is the Harvest-mouse, which makes a globular nest of grass in the wheat-fields, attached to stems of corn or weeds. In this the young are born. In winter the mouse lives in holes in banks, and lays up a store of kernels and grain. The Wood-mouse is larger than the former, or than the House-mouse. It is yellowish brown in colour, lays up a great store of winter food, and is itself the favourite prey of the weasel. ”

“ All good stacks come to an end, but, while they last, it is honey for the mouse-folk. Picture to [Pg 9] yourself the basement of a wheat-stack, occupied by a flourishing mouse colony—five hundred tiny souls, super-abundance of food, and no thought for the morrow. The companions of his youth stole into his dream with all the vividness of early impressions. The long-tailed wood-mouse—a handsome fellow this, with great black liquid eyes, and weasel colouring; the harvest-mouse, that Liliputian rustic to whose deft fingers all good mouse-nests are indiscriminately assigned ”

“ An alternative name for the Wood Mouse is Long-tailed Field Mouse, and but for the fact that Linnæus dubbed it Mus sylvaticus, it would be better to adopt Pennant's designation, for it is much more an inhabitant of the field, the hedgerow, and the garden than of the wood. It is, indeed, the cause of something approaching despair to the keeper of the kitchen garden ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is quite worth it.
the harvest mouse sat on the top of a
stalk and nibbled his supper.
The harvest mouse sat on the top of a cornstalk and nibbled his supper. His first summer had been most successful. So much had been crowded into it that he could only dimly remember the oat-stack in which he was born. Even the hedgerow seemed difficult to recall. He had lived in that two months, next door to the wood-mouse, and from him he may [Pg 122] have learnt something of the art of nest-building. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And it is so cleverly built that when eight or nine little mice which are brought up inside it begin to grow, it stretches to suit their increasing size, so that their nursery is always just big enough to contain them.
The harvest-mouse is a capital climber, and runs up and down the corn-stalks with great activity, even though they bend nearly to the ground under its weight. The tip of its tail, strange to say, is prehensile, just like that of a spider-monkey. ”

“ Never one single instant, while he is outside where sharp eyes of hungry enemies may see him, does he forget that they are watching for him. To forget even for one little minute might mean—well, it might mean the end of little Whitefoot, but a dinner for some one with a liking for tender Mouse.
So Whitefoot the Wood Mouse rarely ventures more than a few feet from a hiding place and safety. At the tiniest sound he starts nervously and often darts back into hiding without waiting to find out if there really is any danger. ”

“ For a half-mile or more Eleemos holds steadily on his course, stopping once to listen and spring aside when he heard a wood mouse squeak under a fallen pine. See, there is a pinkish tinge in the snow where he dropped a morsel of his small game, and lapped it to the last smell. That does not mean necessarily that Eleemos was very hungry. A fox will stop to catch a mouse when his stomach is so full that you wonder how it can hold any more. One October day, when hunting with a [158] gun, I called a fox by a mouselike squeaking. ”

“ Acting on the principle that I have just laid down, I shall take the most common and I think the prettiest species—the Common Short-tailed Field-mouse, represented on next page.
The fur of this creature is strongly tinged with red, [17] and by its colour alone it is easily to be distinguished from the common grey or brown mouse. Its tail is short and stumpy, looking as if it had suffered amputation at an early period of life, and its nose is more rounded than that of the common mouse. Indeed, it has a very bluff and farmer-like aspect, and looks as if it ought to wear top-boots. ”

“ For keen intelligence mouse number two takes the lead. All through the summer months she makes a nest on a high shelf in the cabin. When there is a fire in the stove the heat becomes oppressive in the top of the cabin, and the young mice would perish if it were not for the intelligence of the old mouse.
When I fill the stove with wood the old mouse understands just what will take place. She knows that I am about to kindle a fire, and she rushes to a shelf near the stove and frantically drums the danger-signal. She also does a lot of drumming which I do not understand. ”

“ Now if you take a standard, common, ordinary mouse trap and open a stand on Fifth Avenue and Broadway or on State and Madison Streets and advertise Hamilton Mouse Traps consistently, you will get the world to use them. But, believe me, if you retreat to a wood and spend twenty years in studying the weaknesses of mice and inventing an entirely new trap for their ensnarement, you will [Pg 60] stick in that same wood until travelers find your body devoured by the squirrels. Nobody will buy your better mouse trap. ”

“ Simmo was full of wonder, for an Indian notices few things in the woods beside those that pertain to his trapping and hunting; and to see a mouse wash his face was as incomprehensible to him as to see me read a book. But all wood mice are very cleanly; they have none of the strong odors of our house mice. Afterwards, while getting acquainted, I saw him wash many times in the plate of water that I kept filled near his den; but he never washed more than his face and the sensitive spot behind his ears. ”

“ Although showing a distinct preference for rocky places, when available, some races of this mouse adapt themselves to other conditions and may be found on brush-grown flats, where they live in brush heaps, old wood-rat nests, and similar shelter. ”

“ On again emerging, there it lies as before; and if that mouse was profane, and had a soul to hazard, it would undoubtedly hazard it, and roundly berate that brush through compressed teeth.
It takes but little to set a poor mouse into a perfect fluster. Down rolls a stick of wood from the pile, and Mr. Mouse, nibbling at the other corner of the shed, jumps at least eight feet in the direction of his hole. ”

“ Any one can see a rabbit, a hare, or even a rat; but to see a Field-mouse is not easy, even when the little creatures are present in thousands. A Field-mouse never shows itself except from necessity, its instinct teaching it to escape the observation of its many furred and feathered enemies. Short-legged and soft-furred, it threads its noiseless way among the herbage with such gentle suppleness that scarcely a grass-blade is stirred, while, if it should be forced to pass over a spot of bare ground, the red-brown hue of its fur prevents it from being detected by an inexperienced eye. ”

“ Then the squirrel whispered down to Bevis: "That is not all true, but you see I am obliged not to know too much, else I should offend somebody and do myself no good".
"Well, then," said the rook, who had just arrived, "send the mouse; he looks as if he wanted something to do."
"I cannot agree to that," said the owl; "the mouse is very clever, and his opinion worthy of attention; we cannot spare him." ”

“ With all his cunning he never suspects you of being the mouse. That little creature he believes to be hiding under the rock; and to-morrow night he will very likely take a look there, or respond to your squeak in the same way.
It is only early in the season, generally before the snow blows, that one can see them playing; and it is probably the young foxes that are so eager for this kind of fun. ”

“ Always remember that you must have wind, dear, and do not get into a drawer, as I have heard of boys doing, from the mouse, who goes about a good deal indoors, and being suffocated for want of wind; or into a box, or a hole, or anywhere where there is no wind. It is true he sometimes comes along with a most tremendous push, and the trees go cracking over. That is only because they are malice-minded, and are rotten at the heart; and the boughs break off, that is only because they have invited the fungus to grow on them ”

“ It has eyes like telescopes, so that as soon as a mouse pokes its head out of its burrow it catches sight of it, swoops down upon it, seizes it in its talons, and carries it off to be devoured. The number of mice which it catches in this way is very large, and it has been estimated that at least ten thousand of these destructive little creatures are killed by every kestrel in the course of every year. So we must look upon the bird as one of the best friends of the farmer, in spite of the occasional loss of a chicken. ”

“ Running about on the trunks and branches of trees, and looking very much like a feathered mouse, you may often see the creeper. It is about as big as a wren, and has a long, slender, and slightly curved beak, which it is constantly poking into the cracks and crevices of the bark in search of insects. It always begins its quest low down on the trunk, and works its way gradually upward, peering into every little cranny, and [264] seldom remaining still for a single moment. ”

“ When the Field-mouse is deprived of the food which it loves best, it finds a subsistence among the trees. Whenever mice can discover a newly-planted sapling, they hold great revel upon it, eating away the tender young bark as high as they can reach, and consequently destroying the tree as effectually as if it were cut down. Even when the young trees fail them, and no tender bark is to be had, the Field-mice can still exert their destructive powers. They will then betake themselves to the earth, burrow beneath its surface, and devour the young rootlets of the forest trees. ”

“ They feed upon various animals, chiefly those of the smaller sort, and especially affect mice; so that they do much service to the farmer. There is no benefit without its drawbacks; and in this case, the benefits which the weasel confers on farmers by mouse-eating is counterbalanced, in some degree, by a practice on the part of the weasel of varying its mouse diet by an occasional chicken, duckling, or [41] young pheasant. Perhaps to the destruction of the latter creature the farmer would have no great objection. ”

“ They were all there (except the weasel) , the goldfinch, the tomtit, the chaffinch, the thrush, the blackbird, the missel-thrush, all of them, jays, the alien pigeons, doves, woodpeckers, the rat, the mouse, the stoat, and the fox.
As the crowd increased, so did the uproar, till the owl appeared at the balcony of his mansion, and the woodpecker called for silence. The owl, when he could get a hearing, said they were all to give their opinions and say who they would have for their king. ”

“ And, thirdly, you will see that its tail, instead of gradually tapering to a pointed tip, is comparatively short, and is squared in a very curious manner. The fact is that the little animal is not a mouse at all, but a kind of shrew, of which there are many American species. One is large, and pushes through the top-soil like a mole. Another, smaller, is blackish, and has a short tail. The commonest one is mouse-gray and only two inches long plus a very long tail. It is fond of water, but has no such interesting habits as those of the European shrew next described. ”