Feb., 1912. Mammals or Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 219 



Type locality — Uncertain, probably Mississippi Valley.* 



Distribution — From southern Wisconsin southward nearly throughout 



Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, eastern Nebraska and Kansas, 



to northeastern Oklahoma. 

 Special characters — This species may be distinguished from M. penn- 



sylvanicus by its ''grizzly" upper parts and different color of belly; 



also characters previously given for the subgenus. 

 Description — Upper parts having a grizzly appearance of mixed light 



and dark brown; sides of body paler; under parts buffy gray or pale 



brownish gray; feet brown; upper surface of tail dark, under surface 



pale; more or less dusky or blackish about the nose; plantar tuber- 



cules 5. 

 Measurements — Total length, about 6 in. (152 mm.); tail vertebrae, 



about 1.30 in. (35 mm.); hind foot, .80 in. (20 mm.). 

 Habitat — High prairie land and dry fields ; common in hazel thickets . 



The Prairie Meadow Mouse is common throughout Illinois and more 

 or less so in southern Wisconsin. I have seen no specimens from Wis- 

 consin, but there are several in the Field Museum collection from ex- 

 treme northern counties in Illinois (Jo Daviess and Lake). Jackson 

 considers it locally common in Wisconsin in the extreme southern and 

 western counties. Snyder records it from Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., 

 and Bailey from Racine. Strong gives it as ''quite abundant in the 

 prairie regions of southern and central (sic) Wisconsin" (/. c, p. 439). 



Unlike the common Meadow Mouse this species prefers the dry 

 fields and overgrown pastures and it is commonly found in culti- 

 vated clover and alfalfa fields. While their food consists principally 

 of roots of grasses and weeds, they eat considerable grain and in late 

 fall and winter they often do serious damage to fruit trees by attacking 

 the roots. In the fall I have often found them under old com shocks 

 in com fields. The nest resembles that of M. pennsylvanicus , but is 

 somewhat smaller. Several litters are born in a year and the young 

 usually number 4 or 5, rarely 6. 



Robert Kennicott gives an interesting account of the habits of this 

 species in Illinois. He says : "Their winter burrows on the uncultivated 

 prairie are often in old ant-hills, or, if not, the earth thrown out of them 

 forms little hillocks. They are not very deep, seldom over six inches 

 or a foot, but are remarkable for the numerous and complicated cham- 

 bers and side-passages of which they are composed. In one of these 

 chambers, considerably enlarged, is placed the nest, formed of fine, 

 dry grass. It is globular, from four to six inches in diameter, and with 

 but a small cavity in the centre, which is entered by a very narrow 



* See Osgood, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XX, 1907, p. 48. 



