54 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
(No. 3) is found only in the Carolinas and 
Georgia, but several varieties widen the specific 
range from southern New York to Oklahoma, 
south of the latitude of Lake Erie. The typical 
Georgian pine mouse has glossy, mole-like fur 
of a bright russet-brown color. The variety of 
the blue-grass region is darker and very glossy, 
while that of the states west of the Mississippi, 
between southern Iowa and northern Texas, 
is deep chestnut. In all, the skull is wide and 
flat, and the fur short, dense and glossy. 
Owing to their peculiar habits, pine mice are 
not so well known as are the northern meadow- 
mice. Their natural habitat is the forest, al- 
though they are by no means restricted to pine- 
woods or forested areas. The life of the pine 
mice is largely spent in underground tunnels, 
which so closely resemble those of the mole that 
generally they are mistaken for the work of 
that animal; but the inner diameter of the 
mouse-tunnels is less. When moles and pine 
mice live in the same vicinity, the mice often 
use the runways made by the former and this 
habit has helped to bring moles into disrepute 
with farmers. 
