St Nicholas [serial] . aslewhen found, asits habit in the d;time, and menaway rather skgishly. Not long a pleas;letter from Mr. JoBurroughs, in whjhe said : The otlday I found the nof the white-footmouse. Going through the woods, I paused b;red cedar, the top of which had been brok ?877-1 \V ILL) MICE AND THEIR WAYS. 601 )ff and lopped over till it touched the ground. Itvas dry and formed a very dense mass. I toucheda match to it to see it burn, when, just as thelames were creeping up into it, out jumped orumbled two white-footed mice, and made off inopposite directions. I was jus
St Nicholas [serial] . aslewhen found, asits habit in the d;time, and menaway rather skgishly. Not long a pleas;letter from Mr. JoBurroughs, in whjhe said : The otlday I found the nof the white-footmouse. Going through the woods, I paused b;red cedar, the top of which had been brok ?877-1 \V ILL) MICE AND THEIR WAYS. 601 )ff and lopped over till it touched the ground. Itvas dry and formed a very dense mass. I toucheda match to it to see it burn, when, just as thelames were creeping up into it, out jumped orumbled two white-footed mice, and made off inopposite directions. I was just in time to see the•test before the flames caught it—a mass of fine dry of the grasses on each side arching over, concealthe scampering travelers from the prying eyes ofowls, hawks, and butcher-birds, ever on the watchfor them. The mice seem to fully understand theirdanger, cautiously going under a tuft of grass or alarge leaf instead of over it, and avoiding bareplaces. In winter their paths are tunneled under. ss, about five feet from the ground, in the thick- , part of the cedar top. rom their tunnels, nests and granaries, innu- •able runways, such as I spoke of before, traverseneighborhood, crossing those from other bttr- s, and forming a complete net-work all over theon. The mice do not flock together like therie dogs, but, where food is plenty, many nests 1 often be found close together. They are sociable i folk, and no doubt greatly enjoy visiting andaping with one another. The little paths arer roadways from one burrow to another, anil ;i the places where the tenderest grasses grow tor store-houses. These tiny roads are formedgnawing clean away the grass-stubble, andiing the earth down smooth; while the heads the snow, so that they are out of sight; and theyalways have several means of escape from theirburrows. You know the old song says— The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole,Can never be a mouse of any soul. A trotting, gliding motion is the gait of th
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873