54 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



(No. 3) is found only in the Carolinas and 

 Georgia, but several varieties widen the specific 

 range from southern New York to Oklahoma, 

 south of the latitude of Lake Erie. The typical 

 Georgian pine mouse has glossy, mole-like fur 

 of a bright russet-brown color. The variety of 

 the blue-grass region is darker and very glossy, 

 while that of the states west of the Mississippi, 

 between southern Iowa and northern Texas, 

 is deep chestnut. In all, the skull is wide and 

 flat, and the fur short, dense and glossy. 



Owing to their peculiar habits, pine mice are 

 not so well known as are the northern meadow- 

 mice. Their natural habitat is the forest, al- 

 though they are by no means restricted to pine- 

 woods or forested areas. The life of the pine 

 mice is largely spent in underground tunnels, 

 which so closely resemble those of the mole that 

 generally they are mistaken for the work of 

 that animal; but the inner diameter of the 

 mouse-tunnels is less. When moles and pine 

 mice live in the same vicinity, the mice often 

 use the runways made by the former and this 

 habit has helped to bring moles into disrepute 

 with farmers. 



