MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 271 



our farmers as cut their corn and leave it standino; in shocks for some time in the field, as is 

 usually done here in Illinois, will fiud upon examination that in many, if not in every one of 

 the shocks, there may be found one or more pair of meadow mice, which have dug tor them- 

 selves burrows in the ground beneath, and have often canied'thither a store of corn; while 

 in those, or ensconced in the protecting cornstalks above, thej' have built themselves a net, 

 in which they can lead a very comfortable sort of life, regaling themselves when hungry upon 

 the corn. Now, a pair of mice will not, it is true, eat enough corn to alarm a farmer for the 

 safety of his crop ; but let any one examine a large field of corn thus cut and left standing 

 on the ground a month or two where these mice abound, and carefully estimate the average 

 amount of corn destroyed in each shock, observing that which has been buried in the bur- 

 row, and then multiply that by the number of shocks inhabited by these pests, and it will 

 be often found that they have consumed or destroyed a large amount. In meadows they do 

 much injiu-y by devouring the roots and stems of timothy, clover, and other plants used for 

 liay." ^ 



"In a nursery where apple seeds were planted in autumn I have observed that, during 

 fall and spring, so many of the seeds were dug up by these mice as to leave long gaps in the 

 rows of seedlings, the empty shells of the seeds being found lying about the rows from which 

 they had been taken. They congregate in stacks of hay and grain, sometimes in exceedingly 

 great numbers, destroying all the lower parts by cutting galleries through them in every di- 

 rection." 



"The greatest mischief done by meadow mice is the gnawing of bark fi^om fniit trees. 

 The complaints are constant and grievous, throughout the northern Siates, of the destruction 

 of orchard and nursery trees by the various species of a'vicolte. The entire damage done 

 by them in this way may be estimated, perhaps, at millions of dollars. If any think this 

 too large an estimate, let them inquire, even in a small neighborhood, where much attention 

 is paid to fruit-growing, and it will be found that, wherever they abound, the injuries com- 

 mitted by these pests are frequently among the most serious difficulties encountered by the 

 pomologist. This is especially the case at the west, where no care is taken to protect the 

 trees against them, careless orchardists allowing grass to grow about the roots of their fruit 

 trees, aud thus kindly furnishing the arvicolaa with excellent nesting places in winter, and 

 rendering the trees doubly liable to be girdled. In the nurseries in northern Illinois I have 

 seen whole rows of young apple trees stripped of their bark for a foot or two above the 

 ground. Thousands of fruit trees, as well as evergreens and other ornamental trees aud 

 shrubs, are at times thus killed in a nursery in one winter. The mice are most mischievous 

 in winters of deep snow. It is usually thought that they only gnaw bark when no other 

 food is to be obtained ; but it is more probable that this is palatable to them at all times. 

 Confined specimens, while abundantly supplied with food of all kinds, ate the bark from 

 twigs placed in their cage. One reason why fruit trees are most girdled in times of deep snow 

 is, that the meadow mice can then best move about at a distance liom their burrows, being 

 protected by the snow, under which they construct numerous pathways, and are thus enabled 

 to travel comfortably in search of food, always to be obtained in abundance where there is any 

 kind of perennial grass or the seeds of annual plants. Aided by the snow, too, they climb 

 up at the sides of the trees to gnaw the bark at a considerable height from the ground. IJab- 

 bits are often accused of gnawing the bark from trees, when the mischief has really been 

 done by meadow mice." 



If the Arvicolince liad not numerous enemies they would soon become unbear- 

 ably numerous, for they are all very prolific, rearing several litters of from five 

 to seven in each, yearly. They are destroyed by all the carnivora and rapa- 

 cious birds. Indeed, some species subsist almost entirely upon them. The 

 animals most efiiciently active against them are the Mustel'idce and some of the 

 large snakes. These, if protected by the farmer, and they should be, would 

 do much to keep these pests reduced in numbers. They can readily enter the 

 burrows of the mice, and, possessing voracious appetites, destroy great numbers. 

 But the farmer, the moment he sees a snake, no matter if it is perfectly harm- 

 less, (and but few are venomous,) kills it, thus destroying one of bis greatest 

 benefactors, living as it does on insects principally, but often catching these 

 mice. Domestic cats are also extremely fond of them, and destroy great num- 

 bers. In spite of all this destruction ArvicolinxB are still abimdant. 



" Our fiirmers kill the small birds of prey with a zeal that would be highly 

 commendable if exhibited in a better cause, while the man is rarely found who 

 does not kill the harmless mouse and insect-eating snakes, with as much 

 eagerness as he would destroy the really objectionable rattlesnake, which is the 

 only venomous reptile on the prairie of Illinois and other western States." 

 Let one of our prairie farmers who regards thege pests as " inoffensive little mice 



