Of A Wee Mousie

While working in the yard the other day I came upon the remains of a Field Mouse in one of the foundation beds. I'll go no further to avoid offending squeamish readers but will add that it was clear it had not perished from old age. The opening lines of Robert Burns' poem sprang to mind. "Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie!" It is a lovely poem written in that Scottish patois which can be a delight or a confounding puzzle. But I digress.

Sightings of wild animals in our suburban neighborhood are rare. We have Moles, Voles, Squirrels and Blue Tailed Skinks aplenty, but that is the extent of it other than our resident Crows, Cardinals, and other winged visitors passing through, perhaps stopping by for a drink of water or a drive through meal. So, it would be reasonable to assume that the poor timorous mousie that met its end succumbed to a neighborhood feline--if we had any. But the thing is, we don't and haven't had for some years when the last of our ferals shuffled off this mortal coil.

The puzzle of the mousie's passing set me sleuthing. I approached it as an animal murder mystery--a woodland whodunit. Clue number one was the nature of the killer. A carnivore or omnivore to be sure but possibly a nocturnal hunter, and one with a very sharp beak or talons. Raccoons and Possums possibly but I've never spied either of these in the hood. If it had been my previous home here closer to the oceanfront and marsh it might have been a Fox of which there were many and I could not rule out an Owl or another raptor, but again I've never seen nor heard either so close to a well traveled road and so far from woods and more densely populated hunting grounds.

On the rare occasion I've been awake in the wee hours I have caught sight of a few rodents--Field Mice and Voles chiefly as well as ever present bunnies, but nothing that might be scouting for a night time snack. Another clue was the manner of execution--not to be too graphic. What I found was a neatly severed forepart, which was puzzling as any likely predator would not be such a picky eater as to leave anything behind. In fact, any critter big enough to savor a mouse meal would hardly have eaten and run. The post mortem forensic evidence suggested the attack had not been for food, but some other motive.

As the saying goes, the plot thickened. In my search for a culprit I widened the circle. I quickly ruled out a neighbor dog of which we have a few that roam at night. They had means and motive as self appointed guardians of the doggie neighborhood watch. But their manner of hunting, and method of dispatch failed to match the evidence. Just as I was beginning to think my sleuthing had reached an unsolvable end a novel answer came into focus. I don't want to disappoint you dear reader, but in the tradition of all good mysteries it is more fun if you crack the case yourselves, so I will give you two more clues.

First, there were two culprits I believe--unbeknownst to one another. One, perhaps unknowingly, did the dastardly deed while the other hid the body. For the second clue recall my words at the beginning of this post regarding sharp talons or beak. Only something very sharp could have severed the body so cleanly. And with that I will leave you to discover the rest of the story. Write to me if you have a theory and I will confirm it or leave you to ponder it further. For now I will simply add that reading Mr. Burns poem may also offer a hint as to the identity of the felon who committed mouse-slaughter. Hurry, the games afoot.