528 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



Meadow-mouse (M. pennsylvanicus) will die of starvation 

 rather than touch them. Rhoads maintains that'^ in autumn 

 it rarely eats grain, lives chiefly on grasses, and does little harm 

 when kept down to normal numbers. 



STORAGE This animal does not hibernate, therefore it must lay up a 

 large store of food for the winter. This it does with assiduity 

 and success, even when it has to steal the raw material from 

 some hibernator. 



PARAsiT- At sundry times and divers places I have seen evidence 



that this Mouse takes advantage of the winter sleep of the 

 Richardson Ground-squirrel to tap its storehouse and steal 

 its garnered supplies. This is immoral, yet some individuals 

 go so far as to make their home in a small calibre gallery off 

 the main tunnel of the Ground-squirrel, commonly near the 

 food room, it which they make a small private door, and thus 

 they manage to live in its house, to some extent under its 

 protection, and feed on the fruits of its labours. This is a pro- 

 nounced case of parasitism. It is only fair to say that it was 

 not absolutely proven against Microtus drummondt, but I 

 know that Mice were doing this, and I found no other species 

 in the neighbourhood. 



ENEMIES An animal which multiplies itself by six every six weeks 



would, in six years, possess the earth and more than fill its pos- 

 session, if something were not done about it. The Voles are 

 very near such a rate of increase. Fortunately, there are num- 

 berless able reducers of the Vole population, eager to do their 

 very excellent best, but they do not any more than strike a 

 balance. If they relax their efforts or fail in the least the 

 Mouse millions break forth in devastating hordes. 



Kennicott's^^ chapter on the Meadow-mouse and its foes is 

 full of interesting points. It does not refer to any one species, 

 but it fits them all; and since it had the ill-luck to be buried in 

 a Patent Office Report where few can find who want to use it, 



" Mam. Penn., 1903, p. 99. 



^' Quad. 111., Pat. Off. Rep. (for 1856), 1857, p. 86. 



