Little Vole 537 



box the pair gnawed a lot of chips off the sides, then arranging 

 them in a circle to one side, they demurely ensconced them- 

 selves in the middle and made very much believe it was a nest. 

 Then I gave them some straw and bits of wool; these were 

 greedily seized on and added to the nest. In a couple of days 

 the stronger Mouse killed its mate, ate the head, and, presently, 

 utilized the body as building material. This was not self- 

 preservation, it was crime. A Flying-squirrel put in the same 

 box died mysteriously, and the next day his tail was worked 

 into the Field-mouse's nest. The tail of a Prairie-wolf was 

 put in, and by degrees it was dragged over to form a roof. 



In Minnesota, Bailey found this Vole feeding largely on food 

 the bulbs of the wild onion and purple blazing-star (Allium 

 striatum and Liatris graminifolia).^ 



E. Hollis tells me that in the country about Touchwood para- 

 Hills, Sask., in late July and early August, 1901, he found the 

 Least Voles infected with bots (Cuterebra), very few being 

 without them, and sometimes there were as many as 3 in an 

 individual. All were in the skin of the belly; the other Voles of 

 the region were similarly attacked. 



This Mouse differs from its larger cousin (or maybe ix c.e-s. 

 brother) in size and habitat, also it seems to make fewer run- 

 ways, for the good reason that it does not need them in its more 

 open home-land, but in all other respects, so far as I know, it is 

 a miniature of drummondi. They lead the same lives, wear 

 similar coats, squeak the same squeaks, eat the same food, 

 multiply just as fast, and live on heedless and happy, un- 

 daunted and unreduced, in spite of exactly the same magnificent 

 appalling array of gifted, rapacious, ever-active, and implaca- 

 ble foes; and the anathemas so plentifully poured forth already 

 on drummondi in all probability belong just as truly here. 



' Loc. cit. 



