92 



FOOD HABITS. 



It has been demonstrated by several experiments that some 

 of the more common of these animals, such as the common 

 meadow mouse, Brewer's mole and short-tailed shrew, will con- 

 sume a quantity of food daily, equal to or greater than their 

 own weight. It has also been shown, for all the species that 

 have received any considerable amount of study, that their 

 feeding habits have a more or less direct bearing upon agricul- 

 ture. The moles and shrews, as has been stated, feed almost 

 exclusively on -animal matter, and on account of the number of 

 insects which they consume that are detrimental to the growth 

 of farm crops they may be regarded as being among the more 

 useful of our wild mammals. The mice are in the main vege- 

 table eaters and attack a great variety of plants that are useful 

 to man, and for this reason may be classed as injurious. This 

 classification of the mice, however, is arbitrary, and the group 

 needs further specifical study before it is established that there 

 are not some exceptions to the commonly accepted rule. 



The destructive habits of the house mice and meadow mice 

 in buildings, gardens and fields are well-known, and by the mis- 

 deeds of these species other animals, that are so unfortunate as 

 to be mouse-like in appearance, are all but universally judged 

 and condemned. The average dweller in the country is prone 

 to look with disfavor upon any animal that may be termed 

 hawk, snake or mouse, and be the species what it may, if it 

 answers to any of these names and comes within reach of the 

 farmer, its life is apt to pay the penalty. The moles and shrews 

 are good examples of animals that are unwisely dealt with after 

 this fashion. They have proven themselves beneficial to the 

 farmer, and yet the dog, cat, trap, poison, or other agency 

 that will destroy moles and shrews is esteemed almost as highly 

 as though it were equally effective in putting an end to so many 

 house mice. 



These beneficial animals, the moles and shrews, are usually 

 killed in good faith, for the mistaken idea prevails that they are 

 vegetable eaters and that they share in damaging potatoes, young 



