Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-03-22
Vermont Mice Are Also Brave
Northumberland saw in His Sugar
Place one April bay.

Noodcransnan Snw in His sugar
Place one April pay.
From The Listener" column in gle Boston
Evening Ira script
A correspondent at West Townshend,
Vt, Mr. Seth Allen, one of whose studies
in nature the Listener has heretofore given
his readers the benefit of, sends an account
of another interesting event in the woods.
As a preliminary he says, | should like
to call your attention to fact with which
| you may be familiar, namely the habit of
/ the iumping-mouse or wood mouse Mus
/ leucOpuS) of divesting the beech nuts and
acorns, which it stores for the winter, of
their shells. ! have taken as many as a
pint from a small cavity in the stem of a
: tree ] had feled, 80 OF more feet from the
ground, all neatly sheled. Like the ground
squirrel, it stores its food in cavities in the
EARTH also; taking the precautiOn TO select
such crannies as will be likely to prove mac
cessible to its meddlesome larger neighbors.
As to it's object in removing the husks, it
may be to render its stores more portable,
as ! notice that it only divests cherry stones
of their envelopiug pulp: still, / think not.
BE that as it may, 1t would seem to be a de
vice that makes as much work as it saves,
since ] have for some years noticed that in
variaby on the morning OF some sunny day
of early April those thrifty stewards trans
fer their remaining stores, or part thereof,
/ to some sheltered spot on the ground.
I where they lie drying through the day, to
be carried back in the evening" or some
time in the night Possibly, the removal
of the husks may be to prevent germina-
ton. as the object in exposure to the sun
light is obviously to prevent the develop
ment of mould, to which they would seem
to be more exposed in that condition
They appear to act in concert throughout
the area embraced by my sugar lot, nor do
l recolect a single instance of their trust
in tickle Aprils good behavior, for four
and-twenty hours. being misplaced So
that ! say to the folks at dinner time it will
be a fine. dav the mice are housekeeping.
So much by way of preliminary Now
to my story: ! had been making some
changes III my spOuts, or leaders for CON
veying maple sap as gathered from the va
rious catch tubs or tunnels to the store tub
at the boiling-place; and, in order to set
one OF my tubs on a firm support offered
by a large rock. ! was compelled to exc out
my spouting, which was OF the trough pat
tern, with four lengths, selected from a
discarded lot which my predecessor had
used, made by boring the heart of spruce
saplings with pump auger. Two lengths
were sound, the others were split or season
checked on one side, which / placed upper
most one bright morning in the first
week of April, after starting the IRE IN
camp, ! took my yoke and pals and com
menced to gather what had run in during
the night, Tor we were having a continuous
run A trudged over the dry leafy
knobs, ] saw the little boards here and
there the remainder biscuit of my bright
eyed neighbors, evidently deemed not sutll-
clentiy dry to weather the voyage remain
ing till berry time. Coming to the station
referred TO with two pals trimming tull OF
sap. ! set them Oh the rock and directly pro-
ceded to pour one into the catch-tub, and
glanced mechanically down the line to SEE
that ii carried properly. As ! did so, fol
lowing the CLEAN of the advancing rivuIet
through the first split length, l was aston
shed TO see the nose and whiskers of a
mouse appear at a place where the creyice
was slightly enlarged. 1t disappeared al
most instantly, and torrent Of ice-cold sap
hurried toward the exit from the logs,
where the orihce was contracted. Now,
thought |. for a back-up and spill when the
. little rascal washes down there. But moth
ing of the kind happened; the rushing sap
presently sped along the grooyed way and
not a drop FLASHED on the airy leaves below.
But look, right al my feet, for such a
} display OF No 4 sand paper grit as one
never dreamed these quiet woods contained
Through half-inch hole, near the inlet
pipe, left as a vent Tor air, walked bedrag-
gled Mus, with an expression in its dOubly
prominent bean-like eyes which suggested
Coleridges Ancient Mariner, and came
{ uuilinchingly along the conduit toward me
and so to its domicie under the rock
rr1f bnlf
the evidence OF my own eyesight Out OF
curiosity Iatterward measured the distance
from the point where / first caught sight
of him to where he emerged, and found il
to be IL feet. A least q gallon Of ice-colC
sap passed him Oh his way up, filling al
least half the oritce. Obviously II would
have been easier to go with the current
since the point where ! saw him first wa,
halfway down the pumplog line but al
the lower end had fixed a tin nozzle BEN
al nearly a right angle and tapering TO q
half-inCL Orihce, to defect the stream
smoothly into the open spouts of the main
line Had he done 50, ! do not see how b,
d could have escaped death by drowning
Five or six beech nuts. destitute of shells
{ found on the muslin strainer of the store
tub, were in evidence as TO the nature OF
Master Limberlegs errand in my pipe
y mt NulCu ht evidently HlstoOh lul q
squirrel and bird-proot hollow LOG provided
with better ventilation than his provision
cellar under the rock.
MANY haps fall in the field
] Seldom seen by wishtul eyes.
sings Emerson and he could doubtless have
! added, had he listed, full many toothsomt
drop of treacle has in its dilute woodland
state, held the bitter flavor of death by
) drowning TO many hapless denizen of the
woods. But, what with covers 10 all my
buckets, and tubular tin conduits which
the most imaginative rodent cannot fail to
distinguish from hollow tree, / trust all
tragedy may be averted from my sugar lot
in the future.
FelchviIIe.
While the two little sons Of Thomas Elliott of