THE VOLES-FIELD MICE. 



847 



Red-Backed Meadow Mouse. 

 (Ezotomys gap fieri.) 



of a vegetable character, as it mainly subsists on in- 

 sects and worms and in a wild state may occasion- 

 ally catch a small bird. When in a state of captivity 

 it is partial to an animal diet. It also eats corn, 

 seeds and bulbous roots and the bark of young trees, 

 especially in winter. When the species is numerous 

 in a forest it can cause untold damage by gnawing 

 the bark of young shoots and it sometimes com- 

 pletely destroys an immense number of newly 

 planted trees. It rarely wanders far away from its 

 forest home but will occasionally visit neighboring 

 fields and there causes great damage after the man- 

 ner of others of 

 its family. 



It bears con- 

 finement and be- 

 comes tolerably 

 tame in a short 

 time. It gener- 

 ally lives peace- 

 ably when asso- 

 ciated with oth- 

 ers of its own or 

 allied species. 

 The Red-backed Meadow Mouse (Evotomys gapperi) is the 

 representative of a distinct sub-family of the Voles distin- 

 guished from all the other Arvicoles by peculiarities of denti- 

 tion and cranial development. It is the American congener 

 of the Bank Vole to which it is closely allied. In fact, it is held 

 by several authorities that the Red-backed Meadow Mouse and 

 the Bank Vole are both southern climatic offshoots of a still 

 more northern species, the Red Vole (Arvicola rutilus) which is 

 an inhabitant of northern Europe, Siberia and arctic America. 



Field Vole or The Field Vole or Short Tailed Field 

 Short Tailed Field Mouse (Arvicola agrestis) is the rep- 

 Mouse. resentative of a distinct sub-species. 



Its fur is two-colored; the upper parts are dark 

 brownish gray, the flanks somewhat lighter, the 

 abdomen and feet grayish white; the tail is also dark 

 brown above and grayish white below. 



The Field Vole inhabits the northern portions of 

 the Old World: Scandinavia, Denmark, Great Brit- 

 ain, northern Germany and France; it usually lives 

 in shrubs, woods, edges of woods, ditches, on dams, 

 etc., but only in localities where there is plenty of 

 water, sometimes co-existing with allied species. 

 Its diet is mainly vegetable. Its movements are so 

 slow and clumsy that one can easily catch it. It is 

 not shy or timorous, but often appears at the en- 

 trance of its hole in broad daylight. Its round nest 

 is constructed just below the surface of the earth 

 but is strongly protected from collapse or caving 

 from above by thick tufts of grass and similar ma- 

 terials. Three or four times a year litters containing 

 from four to seven young are born. The offspring 

 grow rapidly and from their birth greatly resem- 

 ble their parents in appearance and characteristics. 

 They can easily be kept in confinement. 

 American Species In &? United States are very many species 

 of the Field family of Rodents related to the 



Voles Field Voles, and the Meadow Mice of North 



America are as destructive on the farms of 

 this country as are the Voles in Europe. All of the American 

 Arvicolidae, except the Muskrat, are diminutive creatures, in 

 size comparing most aptly with the Mice proper, but showing 

 marked differences from the latter by their short limbs, short 

 tail, stout form and blunt muzzle. 



The American Meadow Mouse (Arvicola riparius) is the 

 most common species in this country, and has many local vari- 

 eties, covering nearly all parts of North America, and is espe- 

 cially plentiful in all of the region from Virginia north to the 

 Hudson Bay country. It is found in many modifications of 

 color and markings, about twenty-five varieties having been 

 distinguished and described by naturalists. The Pine Mouse 

 of the southern states is a near relative of the northern Meadow 

 Mouse, but has a smoother coat and is more highly colored. 



THE FIELD MICE PROPER. 



The Field Mice proper, which occur in Europe 

 and northern Asia in several varieties, differ from 

 the preceding species mainly in their dentition. In 

 central Europe there are two kinds of true Field 

 Mice and two kinds of Meadow Mice, one of each 

 variety, not heretofore mentioned, deserving to be 

 described at greater length. 



Characteristics The most important member of the 

 of the Cam- sub-species is the Field Mouse, usu- 

 pagnol. a \\ y distinguished from the other 

 variety by the name Campagnol (Arvicola arvalis), 

 the total length of which is nearly six inches. The 

 body is four and one-half inches long, the tail a 

 little over one inch. The fur is indistinctly parti- 

 colored, the upper parts being yellowish gray, lighter 

 on the flanks, and rusty white on the under parts; 

 the feet are more purely white. 



All of central and part of northern Europe, as well 

 as the western part of central and northern Asia, are 

 included in the native country of this small creature, 

 which is of so great importance in the domestic 

 economy of Man. It frequents alike the plain and 

 the mountain, though it is more common in the low- 

 lands. In the Alps it is found at elevations 6,000 

 feet above the sea. It delights in treeless regions, 

 fields and meadows. It is more rarely met with on 

 the outskirts of forests or in lonely glades; and not 

 only in dry, cultivated land but also in damp, marshy 

 regions. In wet localities it makes its nests with 

 a network of tunnels and runways on the dry tus- 

 socks and clods of peat, but in dry situations it 

 builds shallow tunnels with from four to six en- 

 trances, connected on the outside by downtrodden, 

 deepened paths. In autumn it retreats under corn 

 ricks or into houses, barns, stables and cellars. In 

 houses it prefers cellars to attics, thereby differing 

 from the true Mice. In winter it digs long tun- 

 nels under the snow. Wherever it can, it lays by 

 provisions, consisting principally of corn and seeds; 

 in times of scarcity it emigrates in large bodies, usu- 

 ally going only to a neighboring field, but some- 

 times it wanders from one locality to another in 

 great numbers, \] ,/ ' 



crossing moun- [' \ 



tain ridges and 

 wide rivers. It is 

 a good runner 

 and an excellent 

 swimmer, but 

 climbs little and 

 awkwardly. In 

 digging it is an 

 expert. It bur- 

 rows more quick- 

 ly than any other 

 Mouse and seems 

 to be tireless in 

 making nests. Its 

 habits partake equally of daily and nightly activity. 

 One may see it abroad in the hottest sunshine, 

 though it seems to prefer morning and evening to 

 the hot noontide. A warm and dry temperature are 

 essential conditions for its well-being; continued re- 

 striction to damp localities is fatal to it. 



The Diet of " feeds on all kinds of vegetable 



the Cam- substances. If it has seeds at its 



pagnol. disposal it confines its selection to 



them; otherwise it contents itself with fresh grass 



and herbs, roots, clover, fruit and berries. It com- 



American Meadow Mouse. {Arvicola rifiarius.) 



