Fes., 1912. MamMats or ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN — Cory. 211 
containing four young, as early as the 3rd of April, and as late as the 
4th of October. I have also taken a female early in June that was 
nursing her second brood. Hence it is clear that several litters are 
produced in a season. 
“The flesh of the Red-backed Mouse is tender and well flavored.’’* 
Kennicott in describing the habits of this mouse says: “‘I captured 
a number of this species, which, with several deer-mice (Hesperomys 
leucopus) came into a shanty to feed upon some rice which lay in bags on 
the floor. These Arvicole never having been injured, were quite tame, 
and ran about the room without much regard for the presence of the 
occupants. In feeding, they sat upon the hind feet and haunches, in 
the manner of the Arvicola austerus, holding the grains of rice with 
the fore-paw, and sometimes grasping a grain in one paw only. 
In climbing, they surpassed all other meadow-mice, running up the 
corners of the shanty to the roof, and over the rough logs as if perfectly 
at ease. In the woods, too, I found a nest .in the rotten stub of a tree, 
several feet from the ground. They never moved by leaps, but trotted 
with graceful gliding movement, like the Arvicola austerus. I was 
particularly struck by their diurnal habits. . . . I sought in vain 
for any indications of regular pathways under the leaves or grass, like 
those of our other species, and was finally induced to believe that it 
constructed none. 
“T found a number of the nests of the red-backed meadow-mice, 
and, with the exception of one placed in a stump, they were all situated 
on the top of the ground, under logs. They were slightly formed of a 
small quantity of soft leavesand grass. . . . The Arvicola Gapperi 
is, apparently, very prolific. I found eight young in a nest and within 
several rods of this a family of five or six, probably a month or two older, 
and which I concluded to be an earlier litter of the same parent.” 
(I. ¢., pp. 89-90.) 
Specimens examined from Wisconsin: 
Wisconsin — Solon Springs, Douglas Co., 25; Sayner, Vilas Co., 10; 
Conover, Vilas Co., 5; Lac Vieux Desert, Vilas Co., 7; Spread 
Eagle, Florence Co., 4; (M. P. M.) Burnett Co., 4; Douglas 
Co., 2; Marinette Co., 2; Vilas Co., 2; (O. C.) Fisher Lake, 
Iron Co., 13; Oak Creek, Milwaukee Co., 1; (S. C.) Beaver Dam, 
Dodge Co., 1;= 76. 
* Mamm. Adirondack Reg., 1886, p. 271-72. 
