MURID.^ 127 



and ii,ooo feet altitude. They are common in many of these 

 valleys. 



Microtus calif ornicus Pealk. (Of California.) 



CALIFORNIA MEADOW MOUSE. 



J}^ inter pelage, long- and coarse; above wood brown or bistre 

 darkened by intermixture of long- black hairs on the back, basal 

 two thirds of the pelage slaty black; sides grayer; below tipped 

 with white the plumbeous under fur showing through ; tail dark 

 brown above, grayish below; feet light brown. Suniiner pelage; 

 grayer; tail less distinctly bicolor. 



Length about 170 mm. (6.70 inches) ; tail vertebr?e 54 

 (2.10) ; hind foot 22.5 (.88) ; ear from crown 14 (.55). 



Type locality, San Francisco Bay, California. 



California Meadow-Mice occur from northern Lower Cali- 

 fornia through southern and central California, west of the Colo- 

 rado and Mojave Deserts, north along the coast to southwestern 

 Oregon, and east into the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. 

 They are found in grassy localities, both dry and wet. 



The food is stems and leaves of grasses and other plants, 

 their roots and seeds, the bark of shrubs and trees when other 

 food is not available, and probably some insects. They are some- 

 times destructive to grass and grain crops, but they are rarely as 

 abundant in California as they are in colder climates. Many are 

 caught by hawks, owls, skunks and other carnivorous animals. 

 They are abroad more or less during the day, and the marsh 

 hawk is perhaps their principal diurnal foe, while the barn owl 

 destroys many of them in the night. California Meadow-Mice, 

 like most of their genus, are in the habit of following regular 

 paths. These runways ear easily found in thick grass by parting it 

 and if these are numerous, the mice are abundant. A close inspec- 

 tion will show the stumps of grass and often little bunches of 

 grass cut in short lengths can be fonnd. A "cyclone" trap set in the 

 runwav so that the mouse will pass through it. or a small steel 



