93 



fruit trees, the bulbous roots of flowering plants, etc., for which 

 the different species of ground-dwelling mice are alone respon- 

 sible. It is not to be wondered at that the moles and shrews 

 are blamed for the mischief done by the meadow mice for they 

 habitually frequent the same sort of places and are very natu- 

 rally judged by the company which they keep. I once caught 

 in ten days seven meadow mice, one white-footed mouse, one 

 Brewer's mole and eleven short-tailed shrews in a single, under- 

 ground runway in a grassy orchard in Upshur County. I have 

 often trapped shrews in the identical runways used by the mice 

 in getting to such articles of vegetable food as are mentioned 

 above, and yet when either the shrews or moles were confined 

 and given only such food, they invariably divested themselves 

 of all unfriendly suspicion by dying of starvation after no 

 more than marking with their teeth the food articles at hand. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



The economic importance of the mice, moles and shrews 

 may be likened to that of the birds, although they have received 

 less study and their habits are far from being as well under- 

 stood. In so far as the species are concerned the birds, of course, 

 greatly outnumber the mammals; but I believe if an average 

 could be made of the number of individuals of both classes that 

 are present and active in West Virginia at all seasons of the 

 year, the latter might prove to be almost as numerous as the 

 former. The migration of birds greatly reduces their number 

 during the colder half of the year, whereas all the mammals 

 under consideration, with the exception of a few of the less com- 

 mon species of mice which hibernate, are present and active 

 the year round. 



The amount of injury done by mice in houses and fields 

 will compare very well with the loss on the farm from English 

 sparrows, crows, hawks and fruit-eating birds, while the good 

 accomplished by the beneficial species of each class is also com- 

 parable. The greatest material service of birds to man is, no 

 doubt, the destruction of injurious insects, and, while the birds 



