FIELD MICE AND VOLES 



87 



its species and varieties are so much alike that 

 very few of them can be distinguislied from the 

 general mass. 



The typical Field Mouse is a short-eared , short- 

 tailed, thick-set tittle animal. It averages 4-j 

 inches long, with a tail 1 i inches long. Its color 

 above is reddish-brown, while beneath it is 

 whitish-gray. 



It is found from the Atlantic coast to the Da- 

 kotas, feeding on roots and grasses. 



In severe winters, when the ground remains 

 frozen for a long period, Field Mice are some- 

 times forced to feed on bark, and frequently kill 



The Red-Backed Mouse' is, in form, very 

 much like the meadow mouse, but in size it is 

 smaller, and in habit it is cjuite different. It 

 prefers to live in cool, damp woods and timbered 

 regions, varying all the way from dark swamps 

 and valleys to timbered mountain-tops; but 

 it is seldom found in open country. 



They are found from Ontario, New England 

 and New Jersey westward to California, and 

 northward through Canada and Alaska, sixteen 

 species and five subspecies. They are all very 

 much aUke, rather slender, and more graceful 

 in form than the field mice, and the majority 



GAPPER S RED-BACKED MOUSE. 



NORTHWESTERN VOLE. 



young fruit trees by barking them near the sur- 

 face of the snow. When shocks of corn are avail- 

 able these mice five high, hterally, feeding well, 

 and being well housed at the same time. In 

 husking shock corn in winter, many a nestful 

 of Field Mice have we helped to turn out into the 

 cold world; but the amount of grain they con- 

 sumed was so insignificant we never grudged 

 them their food. 



Taken 'as a whole, the Field Mice of various 

 species inhabit nearly the whole of North Amer- 

 ica north of Mexico and the Gulf, even to the 

 remote islands of Bering Sea. I do not know 

 of a state or province from which they have not 

 been recorded. 



are reddish-brown above and grayish under- 

 neath. The species most common in the east- 

 ern United States, often called Gapper's Field 

 Mouse, is found westward to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. It is 3f inches in length of head and 

 body, tail, If inches. In scientific lists of the 

 mammals of North America, Red-Backed Mice 

 are sometimes called Red-Backed "Voles." 



The Voles of the genus Phe-nac'o-mys, are 

 small brown mice, mostly of recent discovery, 

 about the size of the red-backed mouse, in color 



' Until recently this species has been considered 

 identical with Erotomys rulilus of the Old World, 

 and lias been so called. Now, however, our species 

 is considered quite distinct, and is called E. gapperi. 



