43 



at one time was very abundant. It was established here 

 about 1544 (Baird 2 , p. 440), and has since been driven out 

 by the preceding species. I quote from Mr. Miller's 10 list, 

 (pp. 314-315) : ' I have never seen the black rat in New 

 York. Many of the older inhabitants at Peterboro, Madi- 

 son County, have told me of the immense numbers in which 

 the ' blue rats ' or ' barn rats ' once occurred. To judge from 

 these accounts, which I consider trustworthy, this animal 

 must have been more abundant than its successor, the house 

 rat. Mr. Hiram Wilson of Oneida, Madison Co., writes me, 

 under date of February 3, 1898, that he first saw the brown 

 rat (Mus decumanus) when his family moved to Oneida 

 Valley in 1837. Previously the Wilsons had lived near 

 Peterboro (about 12 miles distant) where only the black rat 

 occurred.' DeKay 5 , writing in 1842, says : ' It is now exceed- 

 ingly rare.' Two specimens of the Black Rat were taken 

 in All Souls Church, 66th-st. and Madison-ave., New York 

 city, on April 11, 1893, and are now in the collection of 

 the American Museum of Natural History. I have never 

 met with a specimen from Westchester Co. 



Peromyscus leucopus noveboracensis (Fischer) . Noeth- 

 easterx White-footed Mouse. 



The White-footed Mouse, or " Deer Mouse " as it is some- 

 times called in this neighborhood, is one of the most abundant 

 mammals of the county. It inhabits woods and thickets 

 and is rarely found far from them, but it sometimes enters 

 houses after the manner of the House Mouse and, being an 

 expert climber, helps itself to the best the house affords. 



Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord). Common Meadow 



Mouse. 



The Meadow Mouse, as its name implies, is found most 

 commonly throughout the county in low wet meadows 

 along the borders of streams. It is probably much more 



