. Denizens of the desert; a book of southwestern mammals, birds, and reptiles, by Edmund C. Jaeger .. . e. Many a merry tune they played at night asthey scurried over the tin lids and kettles inthe pantry out-of-doors. Sometimes they wouldmake such a racket that I would expect tosee everything turned topsy-turvy by always when I went to count the damageagainst them I found nothing disturbed at all,a thing which was always a puzzle to me. For some reason or other the spiny pocketmice much preferred most of the time to stayoutside the house, although it had so manycracks through whic
. Denizens of the desert; a book of southwestern mammals, birds, and reptiles, by Edmund C. Jaeger .. . e. Many a merry tune they played at night asthey scurried over the tin lids and kettles inthe pantry out-of-doors. Sometimes they wouldmake such a racket that I would expect tosee everything turned topsy-turvy by always when I went to count the damageagainst them I found nothing disturbed at all,a thing which was always a puzzle to me. For some reason or other the spiny pocketmice much preferred most of the time to stayoutside the house, although it had so manycracks through which they could enter andleave. On the whole they seemed to like to stayclose to the rock piles out of doors, leaving theindoor crumbs to be picked up by the wood ratsand the white-footed mice that seemed to wantto come in on every occasion. It is a clever and swift-flighted owl thatcatches the spiny pocket mice. I dont think hegets many. A pocket mouse can shoot out ofsight and under cover in less time than anywild creature I know of. They leap three andfour feet at a single jump, and so quickly that. THE SPINY POCKET MICE 61 the eye can hardly follow them. They are neverabout in the daytime, but wait until twilightbefore venturing forth for food. Thus theyavoid many enemies which stalk about duringthe daytime. But they find in a night-rovingspecies of rattlesnake, the sidewinder, an enemynot to be ignored. This little rattlesnake is soquick in its movements when striking that eventhe nimble, swift jumping pocket mice seldomescape capture. The pocket mice are always on the alert andready for flight when occasion demands. Theynotice everything. Let me make a suddenmovement with my foot, or wiggle even a fingerever so little, and they are off in an instant. Itis a singular fact, however, that, though theirear conchs are so well developed for catchingsounds, these rodents pay little, if any, atten-tion to noises. As long as they see no motion,they pay no heed to sounds. I have imita
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1922
