156 



THE MUSEUM. 



the body near the edge of the plastron. 

 I have been unable to get up any 

 meal of sufficient excellence to tempt 

 him, or perhaps it is homesickness 

 that causes him to refuse. I expect 

 that hunger will compel him to eat be- 

 fore long. 



The lowest wall of the pen is nearly 

 three feet high, perpendicular and of 

 fairly smooth boards, yet this fellow 

 has scaled it three times. I have seen 

 him crawl nearly to the top only to 

 lose his grip and fall back. A min- 

 ute's rest and it is repeated, I suppose 

 until success crowns his efforts. 



His temper has been bad ever since 

 he was first captured. When touched 

 on the neck he will straighten up and 

 make a vicious jab with wide open 

 mouth, at the cause of his trouble; and 

 such a mouth! I should hesitate a 

 good many times before getting my 

 fingers in its immediate vicinity. 



About the only other point that I 

 have as yet noticed about him, is that 

 on continued handling he emits a very 

 disagreeable odor which it is difficult 

 to remove with soap and water. 



The Painted Turtles {Cliryseuiys) 

 spend nearly all their time in the wat- 

 er, coming out occasionally to sun 

 themselves. In addition to flies and 

 worms they eat small pieces of bread. 

 The Spotted Turtles {Chclopus) are 

 of much the same nature, though they 

 seem to be content to stay out of wat- 

 er. In fact, those that I have, spend 

 most of their time on dry land. This 

 species eats worms and small pieces of 

 meat either cooked or raw, and it is 

 surprising how much one of these lit- 

 tle Turtles can eat at a meal. Both 

 this and the preceeding species prefer 

 to have their food dropped in the wat- 

 er. Perhaps later on my Turtles may 

 exhibit some other interesting traits 

 which I can record for the Museum, 

 but for the present I feel that I have 

 used up my share of the space and al- 

 so the editor's patience. 



F. P. Drowne. 



Mice and Moles of Mahoning 

 County, Ohio- 



BY E. W. VICKERS. 



Of mice and moles including the 

 shrews we have eight identified spec- 

 ies in this locality. 



The most common of our native 

 mice is the meadow mouse, field 

 mouse or as the farmers are in the 

 habit of calling it the "meadow mole" 

 Arvccala 7' i pari a Ord. This is an 

 extremely abundant creature in the 

 meadows where it does much damage 

 being perfectly netted with the fabric 

 of crossing path ways in autumn and 

 winter. It is a grotesque and awk- 

 ward creature reminding you of a 

 dwarfed or stunted muskrat, which it 

 resembles not a little in color. 



A more agile and dainty creature is 

 the white- footed or deer mouse {Hes- 

 po'omys lcucopiis)'^\\.\i its large gog- 

 gle eyes. In Cuyahoga county near 

 Cleveland I used to find everywhere 

 in osage hedges companies of six and : 

 eight of these mice occupying a nest 

 of thistle down made into a ball with 

 opening at the side in winter. And 

 upon the coldest days a little poke 

 with a weed stalk was sure to awaken 

 the snug but light sleepers within. I 

 make this note because the deer mouse 

 is sometimes spoken of as a hibernat- 

 ing mammal. However, it may be in 

 other portions of its range, it scarcely 

 merits admittance under that head 

 here, as I will shortly prove. Here- 

 abouts I have not, so far in a residence 

 of six years found a nest occupied by 

 Hcspcroiiiys in hedge or tree. Here it 

 occupies a hollow stump, holes in trees 

 or logs and in buckets and under 

 crocks in sugar-houses. 



Though several cases of nests that 

 would fill half bushel measures made 

 of grass and grage vine shreds early 

 in winter in the rose bushes of a swamp 

 led me to think the white-footed mouse 

 had built them, as the side opening 

 was just his size and as I could attri- 

 bute them to none other of our little 

 mammals. Traps set failed to take. 



I 



