316 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



than in open fields, but it habitually invades the latter in 

 search of food. Its journeys are made just beneath the 

 surface of loose soil, in a manner very similar to that of the 

 true mole, for which these mice are frequently mistaken. 

 They feed upon a great variety of roots, tubers, and bulbs, 

 often destroying crops in such a way that the injury is not 

 suspected until long afterward. They seem especially fond 

 of the tuberous roots of wild violets which are often stored 

 up in piles in underground galleries. 



NATURAL ENEMIES 



Under natural conditions the rapid development of 

 meadow mice is counterbalanced by the fact that they 

 furnish a large part of the food of many carnivorous mam- 

 mals and raptorial birds. Next to insects, mice are the 

 most important item in the food of skunks. They form the 

 principal food of weasels and a large part of the food of 

 badgers and foxes. 



There is little doubt, however, that the raptorial birds 

 are the principal natural enemies of the voles. Hawks and 

 owls of many kinds find in these short-tailed mice their 

 most important food. This is especially true of the Marsh 

 Hawk and the so-called Buzzard Hawks of the genus 

 Buteo. The latter include the Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, 

 and Broad-winged Hawks. These are a comparatively large 

 and heavy species that find field mice an easy prey. The 

 Biological Survey found three hundred and fifty of these 

 mice among the stomach contents of two hundred and 

 twenty-eight Red-tailed Hawks. 



In comparison with their number, the owls seem even 

 more useful as mice destroyers than the hawks. These 

 birds are abroad at night when the meadow mice are most 



