Drummond Vole 



5^5 



This Mouse often squeaks. Though to our dull ears a inter- 

 mouse-squeak is a mouse-squeak, I doubt not that variations mcl^^' 

 of the sound convey various crude ideas to others of the kind. ^^^^ 

 They sometimes chatter the teeth to express anger, and I 

 think they stamp with the foot to call attention, as do many of 

 the rodents. The smell-glands on the hips of old males may 

 serve some purpose of intercommunication, but they have not 

 yet been worked out. 





l^:-^i'h-&: 



The burrows of the species are about i^ inches in di- bur- 

 ameter, nearly round, and continuous with the half-sunken run- 

 ways that zigzag 

 over the ground 

 among the rank 

 grass. Theybranch 

 without plan or 

 end apparently, 

 forming an incon- 

 sequent network. 

 The following note 

 from my Journal, 

 April 29, 1904, 

 refers to a colony 

 of Mtcrotus drum- 

 mondi that I exam- 

 ined near White- 

 water, Manitoba : 



In a little damp hollow, not far from the town, I found a 

 colony of Field-mice. The hollow, about 10 yards by 20, 

 was covered with coarse, rank sedge, rather sharply divided 

 from the close-cropped grass on the dry prairie about. It 

 sloped to the north-east, where, 20 yards away, ran the stream. 



The whole area of the hollow was cut up with runs, so saxita- 



TION 



many and so devious that I made no attempt to map them. 

 Some of the runs were underground and those were about i^ 

 inches in diameter. In the middle of the marsh was a curious 

 midden-heap chiefly of dung pellets; each pellet was \ inch 



/icUit f 



Fig. 152 — Midden-heap of Microtus pcnnsylvanicus, with 6 back doors 

 contributor^'. The pile was 6x4 inches and contained about 2,000 

 pellets; each pellet was ix^j inch. Sketched 40 miles east of Kip- 

 pewa, Quebec, September 25, 1905. (Viewed from above.) 



