2T,2 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



and on three successive nights was filled with 

 victims. The fourth night a solitary Mouse, the 

 thirteenth, and unlucky, was found in the trap, 

 and that was the end of our visiting field mice, 

 and of their possible aspirations to be consid- 

 ered House Mice. 



On the other hand, House Mice in choosing 

 their dwelling-places do not always confine them- 

 selves to houses. Mr. Vernon Bailey, when 

 making a biological survey of Texas, a few years 

 ago, found that they were " by no means con- 



They begin to breed when three months old, and 

 have litters at intervals of eight or ten weeks all 

 the year round. There are usually five or ten 

 yovmg at a birth. \Miite Mice in captivity breed 

 oftener and have larger litters. Their nests are 

 made in the oddest and the most unsuspected 

 places. Stone and Cram give the following 

 account of a nest that was made in an old-fash- 

 ioned sausage-filler : " It was made of tin bot- 

 tle-shaped and open at both ends, and into the 

 larger one was thrust a piece of wood which just 



Phot'jtripli Ijy S. A. LuVtndge 



HAVING A FEAST 

 Flashlight picture of a House Mouse on a loaf of bread 



fined to houses and outbuildings, but over much 

 of the country had become established in the 

 fields, meadows, hedgerows, and weed patches, 

 from which they collect in the stacks of hay 

 and grain, and are ready to attack each crop as 

 it matures." 



The appearance and habits of this little rodent 

 are well known. House Mice are very prolific. 

 and soon become a nuisance, if not checked. 



fitted it. The remaining space was occupied by 

 a Mouse's nest of rags and scraps of paper, the 

 funnel-shaped opening serving as an entrance, 

 through which the mother Mouse had probably 

 come and gone hundreds of times in ministering 

 to the needs of her family." 



A New York family on returning from the 

 shore about five years ago found that a Mouse 

 had made its nest in a valuable Chinese bowl on 



