Signs of mice.

April 8. 

The pitch pines have been much gnawed or barked this snowy winter. The marks on them show the fine teeth of the mouse, and they are also nicked as with a sharp knife. At the base of each, also, is a quantity of the mice droppings. It is probably the white-footed mouse.

H. D. Thoreau,  Journal, April 8, 1861

The pitch pines have been much gnawed or barked this snowy winter. See July 1845 ("A Norwegian winter it was for them, for the snow lay long and deep, and they had to mix much pine meal with their usual diet."); January 23, 1852 ("The mice have nibbled the buds of the pitch pines, where the plumes have been bent down by the snow."); March 11, 1861 ("C. observes where mice (?) have gnawed the pitch pines the past winter. Is not this a phenomenon of a winter of deep snow only? . . . I do not commonly observe it on a large scale.")

The white-footed mouse. See May 12, 1855 ("A dead white-bellied mouse (Mus leucopus); February 20, 1855 ("It is a very pretty and neat little animal for a mouse, with its wholesome reddish - brown sides distinctly bounding on its pure white belly , neat white feet , large slate - colored ears which suggest circumspection and timidity, — ready to earth itself on the least sound of danger, long tail , and numerous whiskers."); November 14, 1857 ("A deer mouse (Mus leucopus) . . . our most common wood mouse.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wild Mouse; and McGregor, A Wider View of the Universe, page 160