2IO Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. XL 



Red-backed Mouse (Evolomys gapperi). 



western counties. Mr. Snyder has a specimen in his collection from 

 Dodge Co., and there is a specimen in the collection of Dr. H. V. Ogden, 

 taken at Oak Creek, Milwaukee Co., but according to Jackson, in the 

 interior of the state it is rarely found south of Columbia Co. (/. c, p. 

 2 2.) It has not been recorded from Illinois. 



Regarding the habits of this species Dr. C. Hart Merriam writes: 

 "The Wood Mouse is terrestrial, like the other members of the Arvi- 

 coline series, and commonly lives in burrows in the ground. It some- 

 times makes regular runways similar to those of the field mouse, but 

 usually travels freely over the surface, not confining itself to any pre- 

 scribed course. It is both diurnal and nocturnal. I have shot it at 

 noonday, scampering over the leaves in the deep woods, and dodging 

 in and out between the rocks of a lake shore. I have also seen it after 

 dark in shanties and in log-houses; and have caught many during the 

 night in traps baited with beech nuts and meat. Its ordinary gait is 

 a moderately fast trot; I have never seen it proceed in leaps. Still, it 

 runs swiftly for a short distance and its quick movements render it 

 difficult to capture. 



"The nest of the Red-backed Mouse is usually, in this region, 

 placed in a burrow in the earth, though it is sometimes found in a half 

 decayed log, or under the roots of a stump. I have shot females, each 



