v THE BADGER AND HIS KIN 121 
from the more completely civilized regions, for 
one reason or another; while others, as the hares 
and squirrels, because of their prolificacy and com- 
parative worthlessness, can maintain themselves 
everywhere, despite their conspicuous manner 
of life. The muskrat is a singular example of 
this faculty, and it has probably augmented rather 
than diminished in numbers in the United States 
since the civilization of the land, in the face of 
steady persecution on account of its value on the 
one hand, and, on the other, because it is harmful 
to certain human enterprises. 
But besides these classes there is a group of 
mammals, fellow-denizens with us of the cultivated 
parts of the country, that persist, and in some 
cases increase, yet escape the notice of all but a 
few persons, and continue to live their own lives 
regardless of us and our operations. 
What do the most of us see or know, for ex- 
ample, of the wild mice, half a dozen species of 
which are numerous everywhere in our woods 
and fields? Yet thousands of these small and 
active creatures, —the lovely long-tailed red-and- 
white deer or vesper mice, the various short-tailed 
brown meadow-mice or voles, the far-leaping, 
kangaroo-like jumping-mouse (genus Zapus), and 
several others allied to them, —inhabit all our 
forests, prairies, fields, and gardens. They are 
beyond counting, and form the principal game 
of a large number of wild animals, —mammals, 
