1915] The Ottawa Naturalist. 131 



has increased rapidly. In 1889, Merriam* described no less than 

 twenty-one species and sub-species while since then, and up to 

 the publication of Miller's Listf the total number of recognized 

 kinds has increased to eighty. Most of these species, however, 

 occur soiith of the Canadian boundary, and so far as known to 

 me, but two have been taken north of latittide 49°. One of 

 these, Perognathtis lordi Bird, is a native of southern British 

 Columbia, the other, P. jasciatns,\)rohQh\Y occurs over much of 

 the territory of southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, 

 but as yet, has only been recognized in the neighbourhood of 

 the writer's home, where it was first recorded several years ago. 

 Since the time of its original discovery in Manitoba, and up to 

 about three years ago, this pocket mouse was comparativelv 

 rare, but of late it has greatly increased in numbers and can be 

 said to be moderately common at the present time. So far as 

 I can see the Manitoba examples seem to be considerablv lighter 

 in colour than the type which is described as between an olive- 

 green and an olive-gray above. In my specimens the hairs are 

 a light slaty-gray at their bases, fading to a light taw^nv colour 

 higher up, and are tipped with black, these black tips, however, 

 giving place to light tawn}^ or pinkish along the sides, forming an 

 indistinct band from which the animal gets its name. Below, 

 the hairs are entirely white. The measurements of six speci- 

 mens are as follows: three males; average length, 129 mm., 

 tail 56 mm., hind foot 17 mm.; three females; average length, 

 126 mm., tail 56 mm., hind foot, 17 mm: Dr. Merriam, in the 

 publication before mentioned, gives the total length of one 

 specimen as 1.36 mm., so that typical specimens are somewhat 

 larger than the Manitoba examples. As apparentlv no informa- 

 tion of the animal's habits are available, the following, from mv 

 own experience, may prove of interest. 



The yoimg are born about the middle of Mav. In the onlv 

 instance of which I have record the ntimber of voting were four. 

 As the female has but six teats, four young would probably be a-n 

 average litter. Taking into consideration the various habits, 

 such as the early storage of food and retirement below the ground 

 and also the fact that all the young appear to be fully developed 

 by the first of October, I am convinced that but one litter is 

 produced yearly. 



In their general habits these Docket mice are solitary, 

 never gregarious, in consequence seldom more than one or two 

 are met with at a time, either above or below the ground. Thev 

 seem to have a preference for sandy soils in which to construct 

 their homes, but sometimes w^ander far afield in their search for 

 food. 



*N. A. Fauna No. l.U.S. Dept. A?r.. 188Q. 

 fN. A. Land Mammals, U.S. N.M.', 1911. 



