" The Plague of Mice " in Nova Scotia. 4*75 



the whole of the Counties of Antigonish, Pictou and Col- 

 chester, and part of the County of Cumberland along the 

 north shore to the north-west, and some small portions of 

 the Counties of G-uysborough and Halifax to the south ; 

 being a district about 80 miles in length by about an aver- 

 age of 50 miles in breadth, with a superficies of about 4,000 

 square miles. We may observe that, at this time, settlers 

 had generally occupied the land both along the shores of 

 the Straits of Northumberland on the north, and of the 

 Basin of Minas on the south, and also along the principal 

 rivers for some distance into the interior. But the central 

 portions were still covered with the primeval forest, con- 

 sisting largely of deciduous trees ; and even where settle- 

 ment was most advanced, the major part of the land was 

 still under wood. 



2. The species. — All the persons with whom I have con- 

 versed in the County of Pictou, agree that the creature by 

 which the mischief was done was what is commonly known 

 as the large, burrowing or short-tailed, field mouse, some- 

 times called the meadow mouse {Arvicola riparia, Ord) ; x 

 but others say that other species were more abundant than 

 usual. Mr. Eoderick McKay, of St. Mary's, says that hav- 

 ing set a large pot, partially filled with water, and a trap 

 by which they fell into it, he found it in the morning filled 

 with all the species known in the country. Mr. Samuel 

 Waugh, of Tatamagouche, then over 19 years of age, says 

 that there the jumping mouse was also numerous, and 

 manifested its powers of destruction, but hot nearly to the 

 same extent as the other. And Dr. J. N. McDonald, who 

 writes the history of Antigonish County, describes it as the 

 meadow mouse, which he calls Arvicola agrestis, a term now 

 applied by naturalists to a different species, but he adds 



1 In a paper by Sir fm. Dawson on the " Species of Arvicola and 

 Meriones, found in Nova Scotia," (Ed. Phil. Journal, 1856), he indi- 

 cates the species as A- Pennsylvanica, Ord. This is, however, re- 

 garded by Baird as probably a synomym for A. riparia. A smaller 

 Arvicole, A. (Hypudaeus) Tupperi, has been found by Downs, in 

 Nova Scotia, and there are two varieties of Jaaulus Hudsonius, the 

 jumping mouse. One of them is the variety Acadicus of Dawson.— Ep, 



