Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-15
WHITE-FUOTED MICE
THEIR SYSTEM OF TALKING TO
EACH OTHER.
Practical Methods of the Mother
Mouse Taking Babies
Up Tree

written for The Evening Star by Ernest Harold
A few weeks ago / was sitting on a moss
covered log in the woods. with nv back to
a starding trunk. l had really come to
watch the gray squirrels but for some rea-
son could not see any, and was simply
waiting for something to turn up" | was
listening to the only bird voice l had heard
all day, that of red-eyed vireo, and l
wondered how even this interchangeable little
preacher of The Gospel of the Open had
energy enough this hot weather, to continue
his address to an empty house But was
1t empty? | suddenly heard a sound which
caused me to come to attention. 1t was
quite slight sound. and might be suggest
ed by drawing the corner of an envelope
sharply across the face of file. 1t WAS the
vibratCry sound made by white footed
mouse when it signals by drumming with
its forefoot on dry leaf. | say signals"
but am not sure that the sound is a sig
nal: l am only led to suspect it from GER
tain experiments | have tried. For instance
on one occasion | had a number of white
footed mice in a cage of three compart-
ments. and one day l suddenly drove them
all out of their nest some of them into each
compartment. Then / closed the little doors
which connected the chambers. and waited
to see the result. At first the mice were too
much startled to do anything, but presently
one of them raised his right forefoot, half
closed his toes. and drummed on the floor
as one might drum on the table with ones
fingers. but so rapidly as to cause brisk
vibration. which lasted for full second or
more Hardly had it ceased when 1T was
repeated by one of the mice in another
compartment, then by another. and then
by the first mouse again. They kept this
up, first one and then another, for many
minutes. after which they resumed their
usual occupations On another occasion,
when one of the mice was alone. l stole
quietly up behind the cage, and by scrap
ing on the woodwork with my thumb nail,
gave a reasonably close imitation of the
sound above mentioned. Instantly the
mouse responded by vibrating its forefoot
against the floor and l have repeated this
experiment over and over again with other
MICE and usually with the same result. But
1 am wandering from outdoor to indoor
natural history.
Her Pretty Eyes.
1 scarcely had time to give the mouse
my attention, when out from a clump
of weeds sprang the little creature itself,
proceeding by leaps across little clearing
in the woods. AS she moved she caught
sight of me and paused at the end of a
jump. She was but few feet away, 1.-the
as a panther in miniature, and l held my
breath lest l should startle her and cause
the little vision to vanish. Her smooth.
soft-looking fur was yellowish brown on
the back, becoming brighter along the
sides, while her feet and underparts were
pure, almost shining white. Her taper
ing tail, which was curved gracefully up
ward, glistened slightly with the short,
close-lying, silky hairs which covered it;
her ears were large, thin. rounded and we'll
formed, and her WHISPERS were long and
numerous. But it was to her eyes more
than to any other one feature that her
beauty was due. These were large and
black and very prominent. but they were
also soft and lustrous, like the eyes of a
flying squirrel. But my observations on
her personal appearance were cut short,
for she began to move forward again.
But she did not advance by leaps as be-
fore. With one eye on me, she crept
cautiously along lifting one foot at a
time, like a cat stalking a bird. But she
soon abandoned this stealthy gait, and,
breaking into a rapid one, leaped lightly
along toward a small pine tree which
stood alone in the clearing. Up the trunk
she went, proceeding by little jumps, until
she reached the branches, and then, for
the first time. l noticed an old birds nest
among the twigs To this nest she went
and disa appeared through hole in the side
1 waited for about half an hour, and
she did not come out, went to see what
she was doing. 1 climbed up the tree to
the old birds nest which, as l expected,
was rooted over with cedar bark which
had been cut up very fine, doubtless by the
teeth of the mouse. L poked the little
structure with my finger. the soft roof
heaved for a moment, though strug
gle were going on inside, and out popped
the mouse with four little ones hanging
to her nipples. She passed quite close to
my face and down the trunk to the ground,
where she disappeared under some cord
wood which had been piled in the clearing.
1 came down, feeling rather ashamed of
myself for disturbing the lady, and went
back to my seat on the log and waited.
If You Just Wait.
Next to hustling. there is nothing in
the world like waiting; everything in the
woods will come to you if you will only
wait long enough. So it was in this case.
In the course of an hour or two, out from
the wood pile came the little mother
mouse, dragging her babies along over the
ground. They were blind and all but
naked, but they knew enough to hold on
tight to mother when she considered it
necessary to take them out. Back to the
but she had not gone more than two feet
when an accident happened. One of the
youngsters lost his grip and fell. His
mother paid not the slightest attention,
but continued on her way, slowly dragging
the other babies up the tree toward the
nest. At last it was reached, and the
whole party was lost to view. Had the
mother forgotten the unfortunate onef
Yes. No she hadn't either, for out she
popped again, and running down the trunk
as spry as cricket, she picked up the
heIpless infant in her teeth. and skipped
up the tree to the nest with him as easily