The Burgess Animal Book for Children

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"Where do they live?" asked Johnny Chuck, for Johnny had been unable
to stay away from school another day.

"In the dry, sandy parts of the Southwest, places so dry that it
seldom rains, and water is to be found only long distances apart,"
replied Old Mother Nature.

"Then how does Longfoot get water to drink?" demanded Chatterer the
Red Squirrel.

"He gets along without drinking," replied Old Mother Nature. "Such
moisture as he needs he gets from his food. He eats seeds, leaves
of certain plants and tender young plants just coming up. He
burrows in the ground and throws up large mounds of earth. These
have several entrances. One of these is the main entrance, and
during the day this is often kept closed with earth. Under the
mound he has little tunnels in all directions, a snug little bedroom
and storerooms for food. He is very industrious and dearly loves
to dig.

"Longfoot likes to visit his relatives sometimes, and where there
are several families living near together, little paths lead from
mound to mound. He comes out mostly at night, probably because he
feels it to be safer then. Then, too, in that hot country it is
cooler at night. The dusk of early evening is his favorite
playtime. If Longfoot has a quarrel with one of his relatives they
fight, hopping about each other, watching for a chance to leap and
kick with those long, strong hind feet. Longfoot sometimes drums
with his hind feet after the manner of Trader the Wood Rat.

"Now I think this will do for this morning. If any of you should
meet Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, tell him to come to school to-morrow
morning. And you might tell Danny Meadow if you little folks want
school to continue."

"We do!" cried Peter Rabbit and Jumper the Hare and Happy Jack
Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Striped Chipmunk and
Johnny Chuck as one.

CHAPTER XV Two Unlike Little Cousins

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is one of the smallest of the little people
who live in the Green Forest. Being so small he is one of the most
timid. You see, by day and by night sharp eyes are watching for
Whitefoot and he knows it. 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. If he waited to make sure he
might wait too long, and it is better to be safe than sorry. If you
and I had as many real frights in a year, not to mention false frights,
as Whitefoot has in a day, we would, I suspect, lose our minds.
Certainly we would be the most unhappy people in all the Great World.

But Whitefoot isn't unhappy. Not a bit of it. He is a very happy
little fellow. There is a great deal of wisdom in that pretty
little head of his. There is more real sense in it than in some
very big heads. When some of his neighbors make fun of him for
being so very, very timid he doesn't try to pretend that he isn't
afraid. He doesn't get angry. He simply says:

"Of course I'm timid, very timid indeed. I'm afraid of almost
everything. I would be foolish not to be. It is because I am
afraid that I am alive and happy right now. I hope I shall never
be less timid than I am now, for it would mean that sooner or
later I would fail to run in time and would be gobbled up. It
isn't cowardly to be timid when there is danger all around. Nor
is it bravery to take a foolish and needless risk. So I seldom
go far from home. It isn't safe for me, and I know it."

This being the way Whitefoot looked at matters, you can guess how
he felt when Chatterer the Red Squirrel caught sight of him and
gave him Old Mother Nature's message.

"Hi there, Mr. Fraidy!" shouted Chatterer, as he caught sight
of Whitefoot darting under a log. "Hi there! I've got a message
for you!"

Slowly, cautiously, Whitefoot poked his head out from beneath the
old log and looked up at Chatterer. "What kind of a message?" he
demanded suspiciously.

"A message you'll do well to heed. It is from Old Mother Nature,"
replied Chatterer.

"A message from Old Mother Nature!" cried Whitefoot, and came out
a bit more from beneath the old log.

"That's what I said, a message from Old Mother Nature, and if you
will take my advice you will heed it," retorted Chatterer. "She
says you are to come to school with the rest of us at sun-up
to-morrow morning."

Then Chatterer explained about the school and where it was held
each morning and what a lot he and his friends had already learned
there. Whitefoot listened with something very like dismay in his
heart. That place where school was held was a long way off. That
is, it was a long way for him, though to Peter Rabbit or Jumper the
Hare it wouldn't have seemed long at all. It meant that he would
have to leave all his hiding places and the thought made him shiver.

But Old Mother Nature had sent for him and not once did he even
think of disobeying. "Did you say that school begins at sun-up?"
he asked, and when Chatterer nodded Whitefoot sighed. It was a
sigh of relief. "I'm glad of that," said he. "I can travel in
the night, which will be much safer. I'll be there. That is, I
will if I am not caught on the way."

Meanwhile over on the Green Meadows Peter Rabbit was looking for
Danny Meadow Mouse. Danny's home was not far from the dear Old
Briar-patch, and he and Peter were and still are very good friends.
So Peter knew just about where to look for Danny and it didn't
take him long to find him.

"Hello, Peter! You look as if you have something very important
on your mind," was the greeting of Danny Meadow Mouse as Peter
came hurrying up.

"I have," said Peter. "It is a message for you. Old Mother Nature
says for you to be on hand at sun-up to-morrow when school opens
over in the Green Forest. Of course you will be there."

"Of course," replied Danny in the most matter-of-fact tone. "Of
course. If Old Mother Nature really sent me that message--"

"She really did," interrupted Peter.

"There isn't anything for me to do but obey," finished Danny. Then
his face became very sober. "That is a long way for me to go,
Peter," said he. "I wouldn't take such a long journey for anything
or for anybody else. Old Mother Nature knows, and if she sent for
me she must be sure I can make the trip safely. What time did you
say I must be there?"

"At sun-up," replied Peter. "Shall I call for you on my way there?"

Danny shook his head. Then he began to laugh. "What are you
laughing at?" demanded Peter.

"At the very idea of me with my short legs trying to keep up with
you," replied Danny. "I wish you would sit up and take a good
look all around to make sure that Old Man Coyote and Reddy Fox and
Redtail the Hawk and Black Pussy, that pesky Cat from Farmer Brown's,
are nowhere about."

Peter obligingly sat up and looked this way and looked that way and
looked the other way. No one of whom he or Danny Meadow Mouse need
be afraid was to be seen. He said as much, then asked, "Why did
you want to know, Danny?"

"Because I am going to start at once," replied Danny.

"Start for where?" asked Peter, looking much puzzled.

"Start for school of course," replied Danny rather shortly.

"But school doesn't begin until sun-up to-morrow," protested Peter.

"Which is just the reason I am going to start now," retorted Danny.
"If I should put off starting until the last minute I might not
get there at all. I would have to hurry, and it is difficult to
hurry and watch for danger at the same time. I've noticed that
people who put things off to the last minute and then have to
hurry are quite apt to rush headlong into trouble. The way is
clear now, so I am going to start. I can take my time and keep
a proper watch for danger. I'll see you over there in the
morning, Peter."

Danny turned and disappeared in one of his private little paths
though the tall grass. Peter noticed that he was headed towards
the Green Forest.

When Peter and the others arrived for school the next morning they
found Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Danny Meadow Mouse waiting with
Old Mother Nature. Safe in her presence, they seemed to have lost
much of their usual timidity. Whitefoot was sitting on the end of
a log and Danny was on the ground just beneath him.

"I want all the rest of you to look well at these two little cousins
and notice how unlike two cousins can be," said Old Mother Nature.
"Whitefoot, who is quite as often called Deer Mouse as Wood Mouse,
is one of the prettiest of the entire Mouse family. I suspect he
is called Deer Mouse because the upper part of his coat is such a
beautiful fawn color. Notice that the upper side of his long slim
tail is of the same color, while the under side is white, as is the
whole under part of Whitefoot. Also those dainty feet are white,
hence his name. See what big, soft black eyes he has, and notice
that those delicate ears are of good size.

"His tail is covered with short fine hairs, instead of being naked
as is the tail of Nibbler the House mouse, of whom I will tell you
later. Whitefoot loves the Green Forest, but out in parts of the
Far West where there is no Green Forest he lives on the brushy
plains. He is a good climber and quite at home in the trees.
There he seems almost like a tiny Squirrel. Tell us, Whitefoot,
where you make your home and what you eat."

"My home just now," replied Whitefoot, "is in a certain hollow in a
certain dead limb of a certain tree. I suspect that a member of the
Woodpecker family made that hollow, but no one was living there when
I found it. Mrs. Whitefoot and I have made a soft, warm nest there
and wouldn't trade homes with any one. We have had our home in a
hollow log on the ground, in an old stump, in a hole we dug in the
ground under a rock, and in an old nest of some bird. That was in
a tall bush. We roofed that nest over and make a little round
doorway on the under side. Once we raised a family in a box in a
dark corner of Farmer Brown's sugar camp.

"I eat all sorts of things--seeds, nuts, insects and meat when I
can get it. I store up food for winter, as all wise and thrifty
people do."

"I suppose that means that you do not sleep as Johnny Chuck does in
winter," remarked Peter Rabbit.

"I should say not!" exclaimed Whitefoot. "I like winter. It is fun
to run about on the snow. Haven't you ever seen my tracks, Peter?"

"I have, lots of times," spoke up Jumper the Hare. "Also I've seen you
skipping about after dark. I guess you don't care much for sunlight."

"I don't," replied Whitefoot. "I sleep most of the time during the
day, and work and play at night. I feel safer then. But on dull
days I often come out. It is the bright sunlight I don't like. That
is one reason I stick to the Green Forest. I don't see how Cousin
Danny stands it out there on the Green Meadows. Now I guess it is
his turn."

Every one looked at Danny Meadow Mouse. In appearance he was as
unlike Whitefoot as it was possible to be and still be a Mouse.
There was nothing pretty or graceful about Danny. He wasn't dainty
at all. His body was rather stout, looking stouter than it really
was because his fur was quite long. His head was blunt, and he
seemed to have no neck at all, though of course he did have one.
His eyes were small, like little black beads. His ears were almost
hidden in his hair. His legs were short and his tail was quite
short, as if it had been cut off when half grown. No, those two
cousins didn't look a bit alike. Danny felt most uncomfortable
as the others compared him with pretty Whitefoot. He knew he was
homely, but never before had he felt it quite so keenly. Old
Mother Nature saw and understood.

"It isn't how we look, but what we are and what we do and how we
fit into our particular places in life that count," said she.
"Now, Danny is a homely little fellow, but I know, and I know that
he knows that he is just fitted for the life he lives, and he lives
it more successfully for being just as he is.

"Danny is a lover of the fields and meadows where there is little
else but grass in which to hide. Everything about him is just
suited for living there. Isn't that so, Danny?"

"Yes'm, I guess so," replied Danny. "Sometimes my tail does seem
dreadfully short to look well."

Everybody laughed, even Danny himself. Then he remembered how once
Reddy Fox had so nearly caught him that one of Reddy's black paws
had touched the tip of his tail. Had that tail been any longer
Reddy would have caught him by it. Danny's face cleared and he
hastened to declare, "After all, my tail suits me just as it is."

"Wisely spoken, Danny," said Old Mother Nature. "Now it is your
turn to tell how you live and what you eat and anything else of
interest about yourself."

"I guess there isn't much interesting about me," began Danny
modestly. "I'm just one of the plain, common little folks.
I guess everybody knows me so well there is nothing for me
to tell."

"Some of them may know all about you, but I don't," declared
Jumper the Hare. "I never go out on the Green Meadows where you
live. How do you get about in all that tall grass?"

"Oh, that's easy enough," replied Danny. "I cut little paths in
all directions."

"Just the way I do in the dear Old Briar-patch," interrupted
Peter Rabbit.

"I keep those little paths clear and clean so that there never is
anything in my way to trip me up when I have to run for safety,"
continued Danny. "When the grass gets tall those little paths are
almost like little tunnels. The time I dread most is when Farmer
Brown cuts the grass for hay. I not only have to watch out for that
dreadful mowing machine, but when the hay has been taken away the
grass is so short that it is hard work for me to keep out of sight.

"I sometimes dig a short burrow and at the end of it make a nice nest
of dry grass. Sometimes in summer Mrs. Danny and I make our nest on
the surface of the ground in a hollow or in a clump of tall grass,
especially if the ground is low and wet. We have several good-sized
families in a year. All Meadow Mice believe in large families, and
that is probably why there are more Meadow Mice than any other Mice
in the country. I forgot to say that I am also called Field Mouse."

"And it is because there are so many of your family and they require
so much to eat that you do a great deal of damage to grass and other
crops," spoke up Old Mother Nature. "You see," she explained to the
others, "Danny eats grass, clover, bulbs, roots, seeds and garden
vegetables. He also eats some insects. He sometimes puts away a
few seeds for the winter, but depends chiefly on finding enough to
eat, for he is active all winter. He tunnels about under the snow
in search of food. When other food is hard to find he eats bark,
and then he sometimes does great damage in young orchards. He gnaws
the bark from young fruit trees all the way around as high as he
can reach, and of course this kills the trees. He is worse than
Peter Rabbit.

"Danny didn't mention that he is a good swimmer and not at all
afraid of the water. No one has more enemies than he, and the fact
that he is alive and here at school this morning is due to his
everlasting watchfulness. This will do for to-day. To-morrow we
will take up others of the Mouse family."

CHAPTER XVI Danny's Northern Cousins and Nimbleheels

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Danny Meadow Mouse had become so
interested that they decided they couldn't afford to miss the next
lesson. Neither did either of them feel like making the long
journey to his home and back again. So Whitefoot found a hole in
a stump near by and decided to camp out there for a few days. Danny
decided to do the same thing in a comfortable place under a pile of
brush not far away. So the next morning both were on hand when
school opened.

"I told you yesterday that I would tell you about some of Danny's
cousins," began Old Mother Nature just as Chatterer the Red Squirrel,
who was late, came hurrying up quite out of breath. "Way up in the
Far North are two of Danny's cousins more closely related to him
than to any other members of the Mouse family. Yet, strange to say,
they are not called Mice at all, but Lemmings. However, they belong
to the Mouse family.

"Bandy the Banded Lemming is the most interesting, because he is
the one member of the entire family who changes the color of his
coat. In summer he wears beautiful shades of reddish brown and
gray, but in winter his coat is wholly white. He is also called
the Hudson Bay Lemming.

"Danny Meadow Mouse thinks his tail is short, but he wouldn't if
he should see Bandy's tail. That is so short it hardly shows beyond
his long fur. He is about Danny's size, but a little stouter and
stockier, and his long fur makes him appear even thicker-bodied than
he really is. He has very short legs, and his ears are so small
that they are quite hidden in the fur around them, so that he appears
to have no ears at all.

"In that same far northern country is a close relative called the
Brown Lemming. He is very much like Bandy save that he is all brown
and does not change his coat in winter. Both have the same general
habits, and these are much like the habits of Danny Meadow Mouse.
They make short burrows in the ground leading to snug, warm nests of
grass and moss. In winter they make little tunnels in every direction
under the snow, with now and then an opening to the surface.

"There are many more Brown Lemmings than Banded Lemmings, and their
little paths run everywhere through the grass and moss. In that
country there is a great deal of moss. It covers the ground just
as grass does here. But the most interesting thing about these
Lemmings is the way they migrate. To migrate is to move from one
part of the country to another. You know most of the birds migrate
to the Sunny South every autumn and back every spring.

"Once in a while it happens that food becomes very scarce where
the Lemmings are. Then very many of them get together, just as
migrating birds form great flocks, and start on a long journey in
search of a place where there is plenty of food. They form a great
army and push ahead, regardless of everything. They swim wide
rivers and even lakes which may lie in their way. Of course, they
eat everything eatable in their path."

"My!" exclaimed Danny Meadow Mouse, "I'm glad I don't live in a
country where I might have to make such long journeys. I don't
envy those cousins up there in the Far North a bit. I'm perfectly
satisfied to live right on the Green Meadows."

"Which shows your good common sense," said Old Mother Nature. "By
the way, Danny, I suppose you are acquainted with Nimbleheels the
Jumping Mouse, who also is rather fond of the Green Meadows. I
ought to have sent word to him to be here this morning."

Hardly were the words out of Old Mother Nature's mouth when something
landed in the leaves almost at her feet and right in the middle of
school. Instantly Danny Meadow Mouse scurried under a pile of dead
leaves. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse darted into a knothole in the log
on which he had been sitting. Jumper the Hare dodged behind a
little hemlock tree. Peter Rabbit bolted for a hollow log. Striped
Chipmunk vanished in a hole under an old stump. Johnny Chuck backed
up against the trunk of a tree and made ready to fight. Only Happy
Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Prickly
Porky the Porcupine, who were sitting in trees, kept their places.
You see they felt quite safe.

As soon as all those who had run had reached places of safety,
they peeped out to see what had frightened them so. Just imagine
how very, very foolish they felt when they saw Old Mother Nature
smiling down at a little fellow just about the size of little
Whitefoot, but with a much longer tail. It was Nimbleheels the
Jumping Mouse.

"Well, well, well," exclaimed Old Mother Nature. "I was just
speaking of you and wishing I had you here. How did you happen
to come? And what do you mean by scaring my pupils half out of
their wits?" Her eyes twinkled. Nimbleheels saw this and knew
that she was only pretending to be severe.

Before he could reply Johnny Chuck began to chuckle. The chuckle
became a laugh, and presently Johnny was laughing so hard he had
to hold his sides. Now, as you know, laughter is catching. In a
minute or so everybody was laughing, and no one but Johnny Chuck
knew what the joke was. At last Peter Rabbit stopped laughing
long enough to ask Johnny what he was laughing at.

"At the idea of that little pinch of nothing giving us all such a
fright," replied Johnny Chuck. Then all laughed some more.

When they were through laughing Nimbleheels answered Old Mother
Nature's questions. He explained that he had heard about that
school, as by this time almost every one in the Green Forest and
on the Green Meadows had. By chance he learned that Danny Meadow
Mouse was attending. He thought that if it was a good thing for
Danny it would be a good thing for him, so he had come.

"Just as I was almost here I heard a twig snap behind me, or thought
I did, and I jumped so as to get here and be safe. I didn't
suppose anyone would be frightened by little me," he explained.
"It was some jump!" exclaimed Jumper the Hare admiringly. "He
went right over my head, and I was sitting up at that!"

"It isn't much of a jump to go over your head, replied Nimbleheels.
"You ought to see me when I really try to jump. I wasn't half
trying when I landed here. I'm sorry I frightened all of you so.
It gives me a queer feeling just to think that I should be able
to frighten anybody. If you please, Mother Nature, am I in time
for to-day's lesson?"

"Not for all of it, but you are just in time for the part I wanted
you here for," replied Old Mother Nature. "Hop up on that log
side of your Cousin Whitefoot, where all can see you."

Nimbleheels hopped up beside Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, and as the
two little cousins sat side by side they were not unlike in general
appearance, though of the two Whitefoot was the prettier. The coat
of Nimbleheels was a dull yellowish, darker on the back than on the
sides. Like Whitefoot he was white underneath. His ears were much
smaller than those of Whitefoot. But the greatest differences
between the two were in their hind legs and tails.

The hind legs and feet of Nimbleheels were long, on the same plan
as those of Peter Rabbit. From just a glance at them any one
would know that he was a born jumper and a good one. Whitefoot
possessed a long tail, but the tail of Nimbleheels was much
longer, slim and tapering.

"There," said Old Mother Nature, "is the greatest jumper for his
size among all the animals in this great country. When I say this,
I mean the greatest ground jumper. Timmy the Flying Squirrel
jumps farther, but Timmy has to climb to a high place and then
coasts down on the air. I told you what wonderful jumps Jack
Rabbit can make, but if he could jump as high and far for his size
as Nimbleheels can jump for his size, the longest jump Jack has
ever made would seem nothing more than a hop. By the way, both
Nimbleheels and Whitefoot have small pockets in their cheeks.
Tell us where you live, Nimbleheels."

"I live among the weeds along the edge of the Green Meadows,"
replied Nimbleheels, "though sometimes I go way out on the Green
Meadows. But I like best to be among the weeds because they are
tall and keep me well hidden, and also because they furnish me
plenty to eat. You see, I live largely on seeds, though I am also
fond of berries and small nuts, especially beechnuts. Some of my
family prefer the Green Forest, especially if there is a Laughing
Brook or pond in it. Personally I prefer, as I said before, the
edge of the Green Meadows."

"Do you make your home under the ground?" asked Striped Chipmunk.

"For winter, yes," replied Nimbleheels. "In summer I sometimes
put my nest just a few inches under ground, but often I hide it
under a piece of bark or in a thick clump of grass, just as Danny
Meadow Mouse often does his. In the fall I dig a deep burrow,
deep enough to be beyond the reach of Jack Frost, and in a nice
little bedroom down there I sleep the winter away. I have little
storerooms down there too, in which I put seeds, berries and nuts.
Then when I do wake up I have plenty to eat."

"I might add," said Old Mother Nature, "that when he goes to sleep
for the winter he curls up in a little ball with his long tail
wrapped around him, and in his bed of soft grass he sleeps very
sound indeed. Like Johnny Chuck he gets very fat before going to
sleep. Now, Nimbleheels, show us how you can jump."

Nimbleheels hopped down from the log on which he had been sitting
and at once shot into the air in such a high, long, beautiful jump
that everybody exclaimed. This way and that way he went in great
leaps. It was truly wonderful.

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