THE HAMSTERS AND WHITE-FOOTED MICE 1297 



after the pairing time the first litter of young is produced, the number in each litter 

 varying from six to eighteen, and as a second equally numerous brood comes into 

 the world in July, the rate of increase of these animals is exceedingly rapid. When 

 born, the young, although furnished with teeth, are naked and blind. The hair, 

 however, quickly grows, and by the eighth or ninth day the eyes are opened; while 

 within a fortnight the young are able to burrow, and are soon after driven away by 

 their parents to shift for themselves. Although hamsters do not attain their full 

 growth for a twelvemonth, it appears certain that a female born in May is capable 

 of producing offspring in the ensuing autumn. 



With these marvelously-rapid powers of reproduction it is no wonder that ham- 

 sters frequently appear in countless swarms, when they inflict incalculable harm 

 upon the harvest. Fortunately, however, they have a host of enemies, and buz- 

 zards, owls, ravens, and other predacious birds thin their ranks by hundreds; while 

 among four-legged foes, polecats and stoats follow the track of the advancing 

 legions, and kill them where and when they can. The polecat and stoat are, more- 

 over, able to follow the hamsters into the recesses of their burrows, where they 

 probably destroy them by hundreds. Man, too, joins the ranks of the destroyers of 

 these mischievous Rodents, and in some cases organizes regular hunts for their 

 destruction. Government rewards are sometimes offered to aid in ridding the 

 country of these pests, and Brehm relates that in the year 1888 no less than 97,519 

 hamsters were destroyed in the single district of Aschersleben, for which a reward 

 of $465 was paid. In digging out the hamsters, the stores of corn which they 

 laid up for winter use form not the least important part of the enterprise; the 

 grain being carefully dried and used for human consumption. In many districts the 

 flesh of the hamster is eaten, and is said to be not unlike that of the squirrel. 

 The fur too, although not of high value, is extensively used for linings, some thou- 

 sands of skins being annually exported to England. 



In Eastern Europe there are smaller species of hamsters in which 

 s the black of the under parts only occupies a small area on the chest; 

 and from these a transition is easy to the small uniform gray hamsters of Central 

 Asia, one of which ranges as far south as Gilgit, while another occurs in Persia. 



The New World possesses not a single indigenous representative of 



the true rats and mice of the Old World, all of the American members 

 Mice 



of the family belonging either to the Cricetine or to the closely-allied 

 Microtine subfamily. The great majority of the species belong to a group which 

 may be conveniently designated white-footed mice, from the general prevalence of 

 white on their feet and under parts. These American mice, which have representa- 

 tives from one end of the continent to the other, are frequently regarded as consti- 

 tuting a number of distinct genera; but as they all possess molar teeth of essentially 

 the same structure, it is simpler to include the whole of them in the genus Cricetus. 

 They exhibit, however, great variation in regard to bodily form and the relative 

 length of the tail. Thus there are some species with long tails and a general 

 dormouse-like appearance, other long-tailed forms are mouse-like, others again 

 have short hamster-like tails and vole-like bodies, while one species has spines 

 mingled with the fur. 

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