1910] FOREST, GAME AND FISH WARDEN. 69 



.bright. It is a nocturnal species, moving about by day only when disturbed. 

 It is usually harmless although it sometimes steals a little grain and it is a 

 great 'gnawer when it chances to enter a house. 



Surber 's Harvest Mouse, Reitlwodontomys lecontii impiger Bangs. 



The first specimens known of this form of a common, southern harvest 

 mouse were taken at White Sulphur Springs by Thaddeus Surber. Specimens 

 have since been collected in one or two other localities. 



This tiny mouse lives in open fields and is inoffensive in its habits. In 'its 

 general appearance it resembles a white-footed' mouse but is much smaller. 



Pennsylvania Wood Eat, Neotoma pennsylv arnica Stone. 



This, our only native rat, was once far more common in West Virginia than 

 it is at present. However, it is still abundant in a few localities. In early 

 days it frequently came into the houses of settlers and had a habit of carry- 

 ing away dried fruits and almost any other small object that it could get hold 

 of. It was found to be very abundant at Franklin in the winter of 1909-10 

 where a large colony was living in a ledge of rocks near the town. They 

 were present, but less plentiful, in the vicinity of Circleville. E. A. Goldman, 

 of the U. S. Biological Survey, (N. A. Fauna No. 31) lists 11 specimens from 

 Franklin, 1 from Hillsboro and 21 from White Sulphur Springs. 



It is remarkable that this rat, which for so many years had been a familiar 

 animal to the early settlers of this section of the country, remained unknown to 

 science until the year 1893 when Mr. Witmer Stone obtained a specimen in 

 Cumberland county, Pa., and described it, bestowing the technical name given 

 above. 



The Pennsylvania wood rat is somewhat larger than the common gray Nor- 

 way rat. The upperparts are gray and the underparts white. Eyes large 

 and bright, ears large and tail long and hairy. It constructs large nests of 

 sticks and other rubbish in which it lives. A strong odor pervades the locality 

 where a colony has its home. The food is nuts, dried fruits, grain and other 

 vegetable matter. It also feeds on flesh and has a habit of gnawing old bones. 

 It cannot be regarded as being seriously harmful. 



Eed-backed Mouse, Evotimys carolinemis. 



This mouse has been taken in nearly all localities where I have trapped in 

 the spruce belt of this State. It is probably found also in the upper Transition 

 zone. It was very abundant along the borders of Cranberry Glades and on 

 Kennison mountain, Pocahontas county, in the summer and fall of 1909. 

 Surber says of this mouse, ' ' Common in Canadian zone, in some places abund- 

 ant. " 



The back is bright chestnut and the belly whitish. The tail is 1^ inches 

 long, the entire length of the mouse being about 5% inches. It is active both 

 day and night and in dark spruce forests may frequently be seen during the 

 day running about over the ground or along moss-covered logs reminding one, 

 in its motions, of a chipmunk. It feeds on nuts, seeds, wild fruits, leavei, 

 insects, etc. This mouse is an interesting and inoffensive little animal. 



Common Meadow Mouse, Microtus penn-sylvanicus Ord. 



Probably better known to the average dweller in the country than any other 

 animal of its class except the common house mouse. Found in all the cleared 

 parts of the State; less frequently in the woods. Loves moist places and if 



