WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



Their habits seem somewhat different in the 

 East, where they appear to lay up less stores, and 

 to depend more upon winter foraging; nor do 

 they live at that season in burrows, according to 

 Merriam's careful observations in northern New 

 York. 



In summer, he says, the Microtus feeds mainly 

 upon the roots of grasses, and dwells in burrows 

 in the meadows, which are cut up by its deeply 

 worn runways, which it rarely leaves, even to 

 mount a log. 



"In the beginning of winter, when the ground 

 is frozen for some distance below the surface, it 

 abandons its burrows and lives entirely above 

 ground. Its nests of dry grass then lie flat upon 

 the surface, without attempt at concealment, and 

 are soon buried in the snow. As winter advances 

 and the snow becomes deeper, the meadow-mice 

 regularly betake themselves to their nests for rest. 

 The heat from their bodies soon melts the snow 

 in contact with and immediately adjoining their 

 nests, .... which come to be surrounded by slow- 

 ly growing, dome -shaped chambers. These in- 

 crease in size until the spring thaws, in March and 

 April, melt away their roofs, thus admitting light 

 and cold. They are then deserted. . . . From the 



183 



