236 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



The Harvest Mice are, with the exception of 

 the Pocket Mice, the smallest of North Ameri- 

 can rodents. They are more delicately con- 

 structed than any of the other Mice, and both by 

 this character and the groove on the incisors 

 they may be distinguished from the \\'hite-footed 

 or Deer Mice, which they most closely resemble, 

 and to which their relationships connect them. 

 This group has been classified into a great num- 

 ber of species and subspecies. In all fifty-nine 

 are known north of Panama, of which about 



marshes exclusively; while some of the Mexican 

 species ascend mountains to the timber line. 

 Their nests are substantial constructions, lined 

 with soft materials and built in widely varying 

 por^itions. Vines, low trees, woodpeckers' holes, 

 fences, deserted birds' nests, cornstalks (the 

 nests in these cases being made of corn silk), 

 cracks in the ground — such are some of the 

 places in which nests of the Harvest Mouse have 

 been found. Bailey thus relates his discovery of 

 a nest of the Rio Grande Harvest Mouse with 



Photograph by H. T. Muhi 



WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE 

 The alert photographer caught this little beast in the open, as he scampered up a thistle 



twenty-two have ranges in the United States. 

 The group inhabits temperate to tropical areas 

 and is not found north of the United States. 

 In western North America specimens have been 

 taken as far north as W'^ashington, Montana, and 

 North Dakota, but east of the Mississippi River 

 the animal has not been found north of the Ohio 

 and Potomac valleys. 



Harvest Mice are partial to open grassy local- 

 ities. Some species like moist places; others live 

 in sandy, dry uplands ; still others inhabit 



a very sleepy tenant, near Corpus Christi, Texas : 

 " I found what looked like an old verdin's nest 

 in a bush of ^[olln\^iia pallida near Corpus 

 Christi. The nest was about four feet from the 

 ground, a globular structure of grass, lichen, and 

 short gray moss, with a small opening at one 

 side. As I touched the side, two black eyes 

 appeared at the doorway, but after watching me 

 for a moment were withdrawn. At a slight 

 shake of the bush, out popi)ed a trim little long- 

 tailed Harvest Mouse, wliich sat undecided or. 



