Feb., 1912. Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 215 



Measurements — Total length, about 6.50 in. (150 to 180 mm.); tail 



vertebrae, about 1.75 in. (45 mm.); hind foot, .^^ in. (22 mm.). 

 Habitat — Fields, meadows and swamps. 



The Meadow Mouse is common .throughout northern Illinois and 

 Wisconsin in low meadows, marshes, and wooded swamps; but it is 

 also found in dry pastures and corn fields, especially in the autumn. 

 Its exact southern range in Illinois has not been definitely determined 

 but it probably does not extend much beyond the south central portion 

 of the state. Wood records it from McLean Co., Illinois (/. c, p. 551). 

 Coues mentions specimens from St. Louis, Missouri, and Hahn, from 

 Munroe and Ohio counties, Indiana, which are the most southern 

 records in the western portion of its range that I have been able to find. 

 This Mouse is not uncommonly seen running about in the daytime 

 and it is more diurnal in its habits than most of its kind. Two or three 

 litters are bom in a season and the young number from 5 to 8, generally 

 5 or 6. The nest is usually in burrows in tussocks of grass above the 

 damp ground and is constructed of grass and pieces of weeds, the in- 

 terior being lined with some soft substance, such as the pappus of milk- 

 weed or cat-o' -nine-tails. The entrance is a hole on one side near the 



Meadow Mouse or Meadow Vole {Microtus pennsylvanicus) . 



