v THE BADGER AND HIS KIN 123 
the products of the farm. I know of no mam- 
mals more injurious to the farmers in northern 
Illinois than these seemingly insignificant meadow- 
mice. Few, if any, escape their depredations, 
though the full amount of damage done by them 
is but little known; and yet they are usually 
thought unworthy of consideration. Such of our 
farmers as cut their corn and leave it standing 
for some time in the field, as is usually done here, 
will find, upon examination, that in many, if not 
every one, of the shocks there may be found one 
or more pair of meadow-mice, which have dug 
for themselves burrows in the ground beneath, 
and have carried thither a store of corn; while 
in these, or ensconced in the protecting corn- 
stalks above, they have built themselves a nest, 
in which they can lead a very comfortable sort 
of life, regaling themselves, when hungry, upon 
the corn. Nowa pair of mice will not, it is true, 
eat enough corn to alarm a farmer for the safety 
of his crop; but let any one examine a large 
field of corn, thus cut and left standing on the 
ground a month or two, where these mice abound, 
and carefully estimate the amount of corn de- 
stroyed in each shock, observing that which has 
been buried in the burrow, and then multiply 
that by the number of shocks inhabited by these 
pests, and it will often be found that they have 
really consumed or destroyed a large amount. In 
meadows they do much injury by devouring the 
roots and stems of Timothy, clover, and other 
plants used for hay. This mischief, however, is 
seldom noticed by farmers; or, if it is at all, in 
districts where moles abound, all the blame is 
laid upon them, as, indeed, is very much of the 
