CHAPTER XXXI 



The Mice and Rats 



THE family of Mice and Rats is known by the technical 

 name Muridae. It includes a great number of species, 

 many of which are destructive to farm crops. Among the 

 well-known members of this group are the muskrats, 

 meadow mice, cotton rats, wood rats, white-footed mice, 

 and common rats. 



The Short-tailed Field Mice, Meadow Mice or Voles, of 

 the genus Microtus, are 

 among the most destruc- 

 tive of all the rodents. 

 Every farmer's boy is 

 familiar with the appear- 

 ance of these little ani- 

 mals. Most boys have 

 killed many of them in 

 fields or meadows, and have found their rounded nests of 

 grasses and other fibers. 



There are about seventy different forms of Meadow 

 Mice, but only a few are abundant and widely distrib- 

 uted. The one with which most people are familiar is 

 called the Common Meadow Mouse, and is known techni- 

 cally as Microtus pennsylvanicus. This little creature is 

 distributed over most of the United States. The typical 

 form is found in the great region east of the Dakotas and 

 north of a line running through Tennessee, while five 



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FIELD OR MEADOW MOUSE 



