THE MUSEUM. 



157 



the little owners of these snug winter 

 quarters, who ever they were. 



Our other mouse resembling much the 

 little white-foot, the jumping mouse 

 ,Z,if<iis /iiciiso'iiiis) or kangaroo mouse 

 as the rustics call it, is much shyer as 

 well as so much rarer, although I have 

 not seen it leap ten or fifteen feet at 

 a "spang" as some record, yet it is a 

 most wonderful jumper, with its dis- 

 proportionately long hind legs and tail 

 much longer than its body, some times 

 twice as long. There seems little 

 doubt about the hibernation of this 

 species. It burrows below the foot 

 line, and sleeps till spring unlocks its 

 prison home and calls it forth. Yet 

 one of my correspondents assured me 

 he had seen its tracks in winter. This 

 helped me to fall into a mistake which 

 it may be interesting to note. 



In my field note book for Feb. 20, 

 1S96 I find the following observations: 

 "Ten below zero this morning and 

 has not been above zqxo all day. Out 

 in the Huxley woods I saw what ap- 

 peared to be the tracks of a jumping 

 mouse, looking as the snow-powder 

 had obliterated them not unlike a cap- 

 ital q with a long tail which was ac- 

 tually 4. 5 inches long. The legs all 

 came down together, the tail printed 

 in a graceful compound curve in the 

 fine snow. The tracks were from lo 

 to iS inches apart, mostly between 

 these two figures. If these- are the 

 tracks of a Zapus, he is certainly a 

 poor hibernator. But was it Zapus.' 

 Could any other mouse make such a 

 track.' No other one has such a tail 

 surely. Now if I can succeed in nap- 

 ping the mouse I will have a clincher 

 and surprise everybody, and prove the 

 doctor right who was sure he saw evi- 

 dence of them in winter." 



A few days later I wrote this note: 

 "I have put a clincher on my own ig- 

 norance and that of others. The deer 

 mouse is capable of making very res- 

 pectable Zdpiis tracks. I caught my 

 Zapiis and it proved a Hispcrinnyn. 



Our commonest mole is the hairy- 

 tailed or Brewer's mole, Talpoidis 



The star-nosed mole {Condylura 

 cristata) is almost as plentiful, but 

 seems to prefer rich, loose, mucky 

 soils. We sometimes find specimens 

 which the cats have caught and 

 dropped, or plow them out. 



The common mole {Scalops aqiiati- 

 tits Cuv. ! I have not yet found any 

 trace of. 



The short-tailed shrew {B/ariita 

 Incz-icaiidn) is common and wide 

 spread over the state and may be tak- 

 en by digging pits with a post hole dig- 

 ger along fences or any where amid 

 abundant and neglected vegtation. 

 Where there is rubbish hay or straw 

 stacks rotting away is also a good 

 place to catch them. 



The least shrew {Blarina brcvi- 

 caiida parva appears to be rare but 

 careful search may reveal its general 

 distribution all over its range in Ohio. 

 So far this little mammal has been 

 taken as far as records show, in only 

 three localities in Ohio. Dr. Lang- 

 dan in \'ol. I\' Zoology and Botany of 

 the Geological Survey of Ohio records 

 a specimen taken at Madisonville, 

 Hamilton county, saying, "It is pro- 

 bably found in southern and even cen- 

 tral Ohio, " basing his conclusion on 

 its extent in Indiana and Pennsylvania. 

 My friend George J. Streator of Gar- 

 retsville. Portage Co., O. took a speci- 

 men in 1895 ^t that place which is 

 now in the historical museum. And 

 in August of the same year the writer 

 captured his first Parva (now No. 

 30216 of the Department of Mammals 

 of the U. S. National Museum) in 

 Ellsworth, Mahoning county. Since 

 that time I have collected several 

 more. The interesting point is that 

 these last two localities carry it so far 

 beyond the central portion of the 

 state. Now how far does it extend 

 northward.' 



And last that dainty little creature 

 the marked shrew {Sonx pcrsonatiis) 

 which was not noted in the Ohio 

 Fauna till the writer took it in Ells- 

 worth. Mahoning county in July of 

 1893, and has not yet, so far as he is 



