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The Burgess Animal Book for Children

T >> Thornton W. Burgess >> The Burgess Animal Book for Children




"That long tail is what balances him," explained Old Mother Nature.
"If he should lose it he would simply turn over and over and never
know where or how he was going to land. His jumping is done only
in times of danger. When he is not alarmed he runs about on the
ground like the rest of the Mouse family. This is all for to-day.
To-morrow I will tell you still more about the Mouse family."



CHAPTER XVII Three Little Redcoats and Some Others

With Whitefoot the Wood Mouse, Danny Meadow Mouse and Nimbleheels
the Jumping Mouse attending school, the Mouse family was well
represented, but when school opened the morning after Nimbleheels
had made his sudden and startling appearance, there was still
another present. It was Piney the Pine Mouse. Whitefoot, who
knew him, had hunted him up and brought him along.

"I thought you wouldn't mind if Piney came," explained Whitefoot.

"I'm glad he has come," replied Old Mother Nature. "It is much
better to see a thing than merely to be told about it, and now you
have a chance to see for yourselves the differences between two
cousins very closely related, Danny Meadow Mouse and Piney the
Pine Mouse. What difference do you see, Happy Jack Squirrel?"

"Piney is a little smaller than Danny, though he is much the same
shape," was the prompt reply.

"True," said Old Mother Nature. "Now, Striped Chipmunk, what
difference do you see?"

"The fur of Piney's coat is shorter, finer and has more of a shine.
Then, too, it is more of a reddish-brown than Danny's," replied
Striped Chipmunk.

"And what do you say, Peter Rabbit?" asked Old Mother Nature.

"Piney has a shorter tail," declared Peter, and everybody laughed.

"Trust you to look at his tail first," said Old Mother Nature.
"These are the chief differences as far as looks are concerned.
Their habits differ in about the same degree. As you all know,
Danny cuts little paths through the grass. Piney doesn't do this,
but makes little tunnels just under the surface of the ground very
much as Miner the Mole does. He isn't fond of the open Green
Meadows or of damp places as Danny is, but likes best the edge of
the Green Forest and brushy places. He is very much at home in a
poorly kept orchard where the weeds are allowed to grow and in young
orchards he does a great deal of damage by cutting off the roots of
young trees and stripping off the bark as high up as he can reach.
Tell us, Piney, how and where you make your home."

Piney hesitated a little, for he was bashful. "I make my home under
ground," he ventured finally. "I dig a nice little bedroom with
several entrances from my tunnels, and in it I make a fine nest of
soft grass. Close by I dig one or more rooms in which to store my
food, and these usually are bigger than my bedroom. When I get one
filled with food I close it up by filling the entrance with earth."

"What do you put in your storerooms?" asked Peter Rabbit.

"Short pieces of grass and pieces of roots of different kinds,"
replied Piney. "I am very fond of tender roots and the bark of
trees and bushes.

"And he dearly loves to get in a garden where he can tunnel along
a row of potatoes or other root crops," added Old Mother Nature.
"Because of these habits he does a great deal of damage and is much
disliked by man. Striped Chipmunk mentioned his reddish-brown coat.
There is another cousin with a coat so red that he is called the
Red-backed Mouse. He is about the size of Danny Meadow Mouse but
has larger ears and a longer tail.

"This little fellow is a lover of the Green Forest, and he is quite
as active by day as by night. He is pretty, especially when he sits
up to eat, holding his food in his paws as does Happy Jack Squirrel.
He makes his home in a burrow, the entrance to which is under an old
stump, a rock or the root of a tree. His nest is of soft grass or
moss. Sometimes he makes it in a hollow log or stump instead of
digging a bedroom under ground. He is thrifty and lays up a supply
of food in underground rooms, hollow logs and similar places. He
eats seeds, small fruits, roots and various plants. Because of
his preference for the Green Forest and the fact that he lives as
a rule far from the homes of men, he does little real damage.

"There is still another little Redcoat in the family, and he is
especially interesting because while he is related to Danny Meadow
Mouse he lives almost wholly in trees. He is called the Rufous
Tree Mouse. Rufous means reddish-brown, and he gets that name
because of the color of his coat. He lives in the great forests
of the Far West, where the trees are so big and tall that the
biggest tree you have ever seen would look small beside them. And
it is in those great trees that the Rufous Tree Mouse lives.

"Just why he took to living in trees no one knows, for he belongs
to that branch of the family known as Ground Mice. But live in
them he does, and he is quite as much at home in them as
any Squirrel."

Chatterer the Red Squirrel was interested right away. "Does he
build a nest in a tree like a Squirrel?" he asked.

"He certainly does," replied Old Mother Nature, "and often it is a
most remarkable nest. In some sections he places it only in big
trees, sometimes a hundred feet from the ground. In other sections
it is placed in small trees and only a few feet above the ground.
The high nests often are old deserted nests of Squirrels enlarged
and built over. Some of them are very large indeed and have been
used year after year. Each year they have been added to.

"One of these big nests will have several bedrooms and little
passages running all through it. It appears that Mrs. Rufous
usually has one of these big nests to herself, Rufous having
a small nest of his own out on one of the branches. The big
nest is close up against the trunk of the tree where several
branches meet."

"Does Rufous travel from one tree to another, or does he live in
just one tree?" asked Happy Jack Squirrel.

"Wherever branches of one tree touch those of another, and you
know in a thick forest this is frequently the case, he travels
about freely if he wants to. But those trees are so big that I
suspect he spends most of his time in the one in which his home
is," replied Old Mother Nature. "However, if an enemy appears
in his home tree, he makes his escape by jumping from one tree
to another, just as you would do."

"What I want to know is where he gets his food if he spends all
his time up in the trees," spoke up Danny Meadow Mouse.

"Old Mother Nature smiled. "Where should he get it but up where
he lives?" she asked. "Rufous never has to worry about food. It
is all around him. You see, so far as known, he lives wholly on
the thick parts of the needles, which you know are the leaves, of
fir and spruce trees, and on the bark of tender twigs. So you
see he is more of a tree dweller than any of the Squirrel family.
While Rufous has the general shape of Danny and his relatives, he
has quite a long tail. Now I guess this will do for the nearest
relatives of Danny Meadow Mouse."

"He certainly has a lot of them," remarked Whitefoot the Wood Mouse.
Then he added a little wistfully, "Of course, in a way they are all
cousins of mine, but I wish I had some a little more closely related."

"You have," replied Old Mother Nature, and Whitefoot pricked up
his big ears. "One of them Bigear the Rock Mouse, who lives out
in the mountains of the Far West. He is as fond of the rocks as
Rufous is of the trees. Sometimes he lives in brush heaps and in
brushy country, but he prefers rocks, and that is why he is known
as the Rock Mouse.

"He is a pretty little fellow, if anything a trifle bigger than you,
Whitefoot, and he is dressed much like you with a yellowish-brown
coat and white waistcoat. He has just such a long tail covered
with hair its whole length. But you should see his ears. He has
the largest ears of any member of the whole family. That is why
he is called Bigear. He likes best to be out at night, but often
comes out on dull days. He eats seeds and small nuts and is
especially fond of juniper seeds. He always lays up a supply of
food for winter. Often he is found very high up on the mountains.

"Another of your cousins, Whitefoot, lives along the seashore of
the East down in the Sunny South. He is called the Beach Mouse.
In general appearance he is much like you, having the same shape,
long tail and big ears, but he is a little smaller and his coat
varies. When he lives back from the shore, in fields where the
soil is dark, his upper coat is dark grayish-brown, but when he
lives on the white sands of the seashore it is very light. His
home is in short burrows in the ground.

"Now don't you little people think you have learned enough about
the Mouse family?"

"You haven't told us about Nibbler the House Mouse yet. And you
said you would," protested Peter Rabbit.

"And when we were learning about Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat you said
he was most closely related to the Pocket Mice. What about them?"
said Johnny Chuck.

Old Mother Nature laughed. "I see," said she, "that you want to
know all there is to know. Be on hand to-morrow morning. I guess
we can finish up with the Mouse family then and with them the order
of Rodents to which all of you belong."



CHAPTER XVIII Mice with Pockets, and Others

"Pockets are very handy things for little people who are thrifty
and who live largely on small seeds. Without pockets in which to
carry the seeds, I am afraid some of them would never be able to
store up enough food for winter," began Old Mother Nature, as soon
as everybody was on hand the next morning.

"I wouldn't be without my pockets for any thing," spoke up
Striped Chipmunk.

Old Mother Nature smiled. "You certainly do make good use of yours,"
said she. "But there are others who have even greater need of
pockets, and among them are the Pocket Mice. Of course, it is
because of their pockets that they are called Pocket Mice. All of
these pretty little fellows live in the dry parts of the Far West
and Southwest in the same region where Longfoot the Kangaroo Rat
lives. They are close neighbors and relatives of his.

"Midget the Silky Pocket Mouse is one of the smallest animals in
all the Great World, so small that Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is a
giant compared with him. He weighs less than an ounce and is a
dear little fellow. His back and sides are yellow, and beneath
he is white. He has quite long hind legs and a long tail, and
these show at once that he is a jumper. In each cheek is a pocket
opening from the outside, and these pockets are lined with hair.
He is called Silky Pocket Mouse because of the fineness and
softness of his coat. He has some larger cousins, one of them
being a little bigger than Nibbler the House Mouse. Neighbors
and close relatives are the Spiny Pocket Mice."

"Do they have spines like Prickly Porky?" demanded Peter Rabbit.

Old Mother Nature laughed. "I don't wonder you ask," said she.
"I think it is a foolish name myself, for they haven't any spines at
all. Their fur isn't as fine as that of Midget, and it has all
through it long coarse hairs almost like bristles, and from these
they get their name. The smallest of the Spiny Pocket Mice is
about the size of Nibbler the House Mouse and the largest is twice
as big. They are more slender than their Silky cousins, and their
tails are longer in proportion to their size and have little tufts
of hair at the ends. Of course, they have pockets in their cheeks.

"In habits all the Pocket Mice are much alike. They make burrows
in the ground, often throwing up a little mound with several
entrances which lead to a central passageway connecting with the
bedroom and storerooms. By day the entrances are closed with
earth from inside, for the Mice are active only at night.
Sometimes the burrows are hidden under bushes, and sometimes
they are right out in the open. Living as they do in a hot, dry
country, the Pocket Mice have learned to get along without
drinking water. Their food consists mainly of a variety of
small seeds.

"Another Mouse of the West looks almost enough like Whitefoot to
be a member of his branch of the family. He has a beautiful
yellowish-brown coat and white waistcoat, and his feet are white.
But his tail is short in comparison with Whitefoot's and instead
of being slim is quite thick. His fur is like velvet. He is
called the Grasshopper Mouse."

"Is that because he eats Grasshoppers?" asked Peter Rabbit at once.

"You've guessed it," laughed Old Mother Nature. "He is very, very
fond of Grasshoppers and Crickets. He eats many kinds of insects,
Moths, Flies, Cutworms, Beetles, Lizards, Frogs and Scorpions.
Because of his fondness for the latter he is called the Scorpion
Mouse in some sections. He is fond of meat when he can get it.
He also eats seeds of many kinds. He is found all over the West
from well up in the North to the hot dry regions of the Southwest.
When he cannot find a convenient deserted burrow of some other
animal, he digs a home for himself and there raises several families
each year. In the early evening he often utters a fine, shrill,
whistling call note.

"Another little member of the Mouse family found clear across the
country is the Harvest Mouse. He is never bigger than Nibbler the
House Mouse and often is much smaller. In fact, he is one of the
smallest of the entire family. In appearance he is much like
Nibbler, but his coat is browner and there are fine hairs on his
tail. He loves grassy, weedy or brushy places.

"As a rule he does little harm to man, for his food is chiefly
seeds of weeds, small wild fruits and parts of wild plants of no
value to man. Once in a while his family becomes so large that
they do some damage in grain fields. But this does not happen
often. The most interesting thing about this little Mouse is the
way he builds his home. Sometimes he uses a hole in a tree or
post and sometimes a deserted birds' nest, but more frequently
he builds a nest for himself--a little round ball of grass and
other vegetable matter. This is placed in thick grass or weeds
close to the ground or in bushes or low trees several feet from
the ground.

"They are well-built little houses and have one or more little
doorways on the under side when they are in bushes or trees. Inside
is a warm, soft bed made of milkweed or cattail down, the very
nicest kind of a bed for the babies. No one has a neater home than
the Harvest Mouse. He is quite as much at home in bushes and low
trees as Happy Jack Squirrel is in bigger trees. His long tail
comes in very handy then, for he often wraps it around a twig to
make his footing more secure.

"Now this is all about the native Mice and--what is it, Peter?"

"You've forgotten Nibbler the House Mouse," replied Peter.

"How impatient some little folks are and how fearful that their
curiosity will not be satisfied" remarked Old Mother Nature. "As
I was saying, this is all about our native Mice; that is, the Mice
who belong to this country. And now we come to Nibbler the House
Mouse, who, like Robber the Brown Rat, has no business here at all,
but who has followed man all over the world and like Robber has
become a pest to man."

Peter Rabbit looked rather sheepish when he discovered that Old
Mother Nature hadn't for gotten, and resolved that in the future
he would hold his tongue.

"Have any of you seen Nibbler?" asked Old Mother Nature.

"I have," replied Danny Meadow Mouse. "Once I was carried to
Farmer Brown's barn in a shock of corn and I found Nibbler living
in the barn."

"It is a wonder he wasn't living in Farmer Brown's house," said
Old Mother Nature. "Probably other members of his family were.
He is perfectly at home in any building put up by man, just as
is Robber the Rat. Because of his small size he can go where
Robber cannot. He delights to scamper about between the walls.
Being a true Rodent he is forever gnawing holes in the corners
of rooms and opening on to pantry shelves so that he may steal
food. He eats all sorts of food, but spoils more for man, by
running about over it, than he eats. In barns and henhouses he
gets into the grain bins and steals a great deal of grain.

"It is largely because of Robber the Rat and Nibbler that men keep
the Cats you all hate so. A Cat is Nibbler's worst enemy. Nibbler
is slender and graceful, with a long, hairless tail and ears of
good size. He is very timid, ready to dart into his hole at the
least sound. He raises from four to nine babies at a time and
several sets of them in a year.

"If Mr. and Mrs. Nibbler are living in a house, their nest is made
of scraps of paper, cloth, wool and other soft things stolen from
the people who live in the house. In getting this material they
often do great damage. If they are living in a barn, they make
their nest of hay and any soft material they can find.

"While Nibbler prefers to live in or close to the homes of men,
he sometimes is driven out and then takes to the fields, especially
in summer. There he lives in all sorts of hiding places, and isn't
at all particular what the place is, if it promises safety and food
can be obtained close by. I'm sorry Nibbler ever came to this
country. Man brought him here and now he is here to stay and quite
as much at home as if he belonged here the way the rest of you do.

"This finishes the lessons on the order of Rodents, the animals
related by reason of having teeth for the purpose of gnawing. I
suspect these are the only ones in whom you take any interest, and
so you will not care to come to school any more. Am I right?"

"No, marm," answered Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, who, you remember,
had laughed at Peter Rabbit for wanting to go to school. "No, marm.
There are ever so many other people of the Green Forest and the
Green Meadows we want to know more about than we now know. Isn't
that so?" Happy Jack turned to the others and every one nodded,
even Prickly Porky.

"There is one little fellow living right near here who looks to me
as if he must be a member of the Mouse family, but he isn't like any
of the Mice you have told us about," continued Happy Jack. "He is
so small he can hide under a leaf. I'm sure he must be a Mouse."

"You mean Teeny Weeny the Shrew," replied Old Mother Nature, smiling
at Happy Jack. "He isn't a Mouse. He isn't even a Rodent. I'll
try to have him here to-morrow morning and we will see what we can
find out about him and his relatives."



CHAPTER XIX Teeny Weeny and His Cousin

"Of course Old Mother Nature knows, but just the same it is hard
for me not to believe that Teeny Weeny is a member of the Mouse
family," said Happy Jack Squirrel to Peter Rabbit, as they
scampered along to school. "I never have had a real good look
at him, but I've had glimpses of him lots of times and always
supposed him a little Mouse with a short tail. It is hard to
believe that he isn't."

"I hope Old Mother Nature will put him where we can get a good
look at him," replied Peter. "Perhaps when you really see him he
won't look so much like a Mouse."

When all had arrived Old Mother Nature began the morning lesson at
once. "You have learned about all the families in the order of
Rodents," said she, "so now we will take up another and much smaller
order called Insectivora. I wonder if any of you can guess what
that means." "It sounds," said Peter Rabbit, "as if it must have
something to do with insects."

"That is a very good guess, Peter," replied Old Mother Nature,
smiling at him. "It does have to do with insects. The members
of this order live very largely on insects and worms, and the name
Insectivora means insect-eating. There are two families in this
order, the Shrew family and the Mole family."

"Then Teeny Weeny and Miner the Mole must be related," spoke
Peter quickly.

"Right again, Peter," was the prompt reply. "The Shrews and the
Moles are related in the same way that you and Happy Jack Squirrel
are related."

"And isn't Teeny Weeny the Shrew related to the Mice at all?"
asked Happy Jack.

"Not at all," said Old Mother Nature. "Many people think he is
and often he is called Shrew Mouse. But this is a great mistake.
It is the result of ignorance. It seems strange to me that people
so often know so little about their near neighbors." She looked
at Happy Jack Squirrel as she said this, and Happy Jack looked
sheepish. He felt just as he looked. All this time the eyes of
every one had been searching this way, that way, every way, for
Teeny Weeny, for Old Mother Nature had promised to try to have
him there that morning. But Teeny Weeny was not to be seen. Now
and then a leaf on the ground close by Old Mother Nature's feet
moved, but the Merry Little Breezes were always stirring up
fallen leaves, and no one paid any attention to these.

Old Mother Nature understood the disappointment in the faces before
her and her eyes began to twinkle. "Yesterday I told you that I
would try to have Teeny Weeny here," said she. A leaf moved.
Stooping quickly she picked it up. "And here he is," she finished.

Sure enough where a second before the dead brown leaf had been was
a tiny little fellow, so tiny that that leaf had covered him
completely, and it wasn't a very big leaf. It was Teeny Weeny the
Shrew, also called the Common Shrew, the Long-tailed Shrew and the
Shrew Mouse, one of the smallest animals in all the Great World.
He started to dart under another leaf, but Old Mother Nature stopped
him. "Sit still," she commanded sharply. "You have nothing to fear.
I want everybody to have a good look at you, for it is high time
these neighbors of yours should know you. I know just how nervous
and uncomfortable you are and I'll keep you only a few minutes.
Now everybody take a good look at Teeny Weeny."

This command was quite needless, for all were staring with all
their might. What they saw was a mite of a fellow less than four
inches long from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and
of this total length the tail was almost half. He was slender,
had short legs and mouselike feet. His coat was brownish above
and grayish beneath, and the fur was very fine and soft.

But the oddest thing about Teeny Weeny was his long, pointed head
ending in a long nose. No Mouse has a head like it. The edges of
the ears could be seen above the fur, but the eyes were so tiny
that Peter Rabbit thought he hadn't any and said so.

Old Mother Nature laughed. "Yes, he has eyes, Peter," said she.
"Look closely and you will see them. But they don't amount to
much--little more than to tell daylight from darkness. Teeny
Weeny depends on his nose chiefly. He has a very wonderful little
nose, flexible and very sensitive. Of course, with such poor eyes
he prefers the dark when there are fewer enemies abroad."

All this time Teeny Weeny had been growing more and more uneasy.
Old Mother Nature saw and understood. Now she told him that he
might go. Hardly were the words out of her mouth when he vanished,
darting under some dead leaves. Hidden by them he made his way
to an old log and was seen no more.

"Doesn't he eat anything but insects and worms?" asked
Striped Chipmunk.

"Yes," replied Old Mother Nature. "He is very fond of flesh, and
if he finds the body of a bird or animal that has been killed he
will tear it to pieces. He is very hot-tempered, as are all his
family, and will not hesitate to attack a Mouse much bigger than
himself. He is so little and so active that he has to have a
great deal of food and probably eats his own weight in food every
day. Of course, that means he must do a great deal of hunting,
and he does.

"He makes tiny little paths under the fallen leaves and in swampy
places--little tunnels through the moss. He is especially fond of
old rotted stumps and logs and brush piles, for in such places he
can find grubs and insects. At the same time he is well hidden.
He is active by day and night, but in the daytime takes pains to
keep out of the light. He prefers damp to dry places. In winter
he tunnels about under the snow. In summer he uses the tunnels
and runways of Meadow Mice and others when he can. He eats seeds
and other vegetable food when he cannot find insects or flesh"

"How about his enemies?" asked Chatterer the Red Squirrel.

"He has plenty," replied Old Mother Nature, "but is not so much
hunted as the members of the Mouse family. This is because he has
a strong, unpleasant scent which makes him a poor meal for those
at all particular about their food. Some of the Hawks and Owls
appear not to mind this, and these are his worst enemies."

"Has he any near relatives?" asked Jumper the Hare.

"Several," was the prompt response. "Blarina the Short-tailed
Shrew, also called Mole Shrew, is the best known. He is found
everywhere, in forests, old pastures and along grassy banks, but
seldom far from water. He prefers moist ground. He is much
larger and thicker than Teeny Weeny and has a shorter tail.
People often mistake him for Miner the Mole, because of the thick,
fine fur which is much like Miner's and his habit of tunneling
about just beneath the surface, but if they would look at his
fore feet they would never make that mistake. They are small
and like the feet of the Mouse family, not at all like Miner's
big shovels. Moreover, he is smaller than Miner, and his tunnels
are seldom in the earth but just under the leaves and grass.

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