Animals in the Wild [ 101 



MICE AND RATS PETS AND PESTS 



Among parents and children there are two schools of 

 thought about mice. As far as the adult is concerned, these rodents 

 are pests to be exterminated whenever possible. As the child sees 

 it, mice are engaging, clever pets that can be kept without entailing 

 a great amount of work for their owner. 



The House Mouse: The house mouse, originally a native of Asia, 

 is responsible for much of the dislike visited on the whole tribe. 

 Through its ability to stow away wherever food is kept, this 

 creature infiltrated into Europe and later on came to this country. 

 Although this mouse usually makes its home in houses or barns, 

 it sometimes nests under cornstalks or in grain fields. 



Indoors it uses the space between plaster and outer walls for 

 runways, or else it travels between ceiling and floor. With its 

 strong gnawing teeth it can easily cut through wood, cardboard, 

 or almost any obstacle but metal. The mother mouse makes her 

 nest out of cloth, paper, or whatever pliable material she can find. 



The Harvest Mouse: Wandering across country fields you may 

 catch sight of a mouse which resembles the house mouse so closely 

 that you might think it was the same creature. However, the 

 outdoor species is probably a harvest mouse, content to find its 

 food under natural conditions. It works the year round for its 

 living, seeking in summertime greens, fruits, berries, and a variety 

 of seeds. It stores some seeds in its nest or underground, and in 

 the winter it tunnels under the snow, if need be, to its hidden 

 supplies. 



Other Members of the Mouse Family: If you part the grass in the 

 fields and find hard-packed little roadways about an inch wide, 

 you have probably come upon the meadow mouse's "communica- 

 tion system" between burrows. Again, in wintertime, the tiny 

 animal footprints you find in the snow often prove to be those of 

 the meadow mouse. 



The most attractive and interesting of wild mice is the white- 

 footed or deer mouse. Look for it in the woods where a log, a 

 broken rock, or merely grass provides its shelter. It is an excellent 



