ORDERS OF MAMMALS—GNAWING ANIMALS 



usually dark brown mixed with black. Seven 

 species are known, extending in range from 

 Labrador westward to Oregon, Washington and 

 northern British Columbia, and also down to 

 Colorado. None are found in the eastern half of 

 the United States. There is no special mark 

 by which it is easy to distinguish them from their 

 nearest relatives, the red-backed mice. 



The species most widely distributed, and 

 best known, is the Northwestern Vole, 1 the 

 largest member of this group, — a grayish-brown 

 creature, with feet and all under parts white, or 

 nearly so. It inhabits Alberta, British Colum- 

 bia, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and south 

 central Oregon. Length of head and body, 4 

 inches, tail, If inches. 



In mental capacity the Wood Rat, Pack Rat, 

 Trading Rat or Bushy- Tailed Rat - is the most 

 wonderful member of the whole Rat-and-Mouse 

 Family, at least in North America. The true 

 stories of its pranks are almost beyond belief. 

 Seemingly its chief object in life is to play prac- 

 tical jokes on mankind; and any rat which mani- 

 fests a spirit of toleration toward man surely is 

 entitled to special consideration. 



The typical Wood Rat is a large-sized, big- 

 eyed, large-eared and rather handsome creature, 



FLORIDA WOOD RAT. 



without the mean, vicious look of a common rat, 

 with fine yellowish-gray fur, white feet, and white 

 under parts. In some species, the tail is cov- 

 ered with long hair, and by this fact alone it is 

 possible to distinguish many members of the 

 genus. The Wood Rats are distributed very 

 1 Phenacomys orophilus. 2 Neotoma. 



generally throughout the southern and western 

 part of the United States, and are also found in 

 British Columbia and Mexico. Frequently their 

 presence is indicated by the huge, mound-like 

 nests, from two to three feet high, which they 

 build of twigs, grass, leaves and bark. 



These animals are nocturnal in their habits, 

 and their nest-building and other work is done 

 at night. The most remarkable thing about 

 them is their habit of entering houses and playing 

 practical jokes upon the inmates. A pair of 

 Wood Rats that I knew by reputation at Oak 

 Lodge, in Florida, first carried a lot of water- 

 melon seeds from the ground floor upstairs, and 

 hid them under a pillow. Then they took from 

 the kitchen a tablespoonful of cucumber seeds, 

 and placed them in the pocket of a vest which 

 hung upstairs on a nail. In one night they re- 

 moved from a box eighty-five pieces of bee-hive 

 fixtures, and hid them in another box, and on 

 the following night they deposited in the first 

 box about two quarts of corn and oats. 



Western frontiersmen, and others who live in 

 the land of the Wood Rat, relate stories innu- 

 merable of the absurd but industrious doings of 

 these strange creatures. In general they are 

 rather harmless. One of the best known spe- 

 cies is the Florida Wood Rat. 3 It belongs to 

 the round-tailed group and does not have the 

 hairy, squirrel-like tail of some of the western 

 wood rats. Its upper color is tan mixed with 

 brown, feet and under parts white. The length 

 of the head and body is 8i inches, tail 6f inches. 

 Distribution: the southern states from the Car- 

 olinas to Texas. 



The Little Harvest Mouse looks so much 

 like a small house mouse, 2\ + 2 inches long, 

 that only an expert can readily recognize it 

 at first sight. The ten or more species are 

 scattered throughout the southern, southwest- 

 ern and Pacific states, but none of them are 

 found in northeastern North America. The 

 usual color is gray-brown above, and lighter 

 underneath, and the best known example is Le 

 Conte's Harvest Mouse ' of the south Atlantic 

 states, from Virginia to Florida. 



The Rice-Field Mouse 5 should have been 

 called a rat, for it is 5 inches long, with a five- 

 inch tail. It is strictly a southern animal, in- 



3 Neotoma floridana. ' Reithrodontomys lecontii. 

 5 Oryzonn/s palustris. 



