THE SQUIRRELS AND OTHER RODENTS OF THE ADIRONDACK^. 35 1 



tively insignificant, but that required to sustain the total number inhabiting a 

 given district is not to be ignored. And when it is borne in mind that the food 

 of this species consists almost exclusively of the produce of the agriculturist, the 

 fact becomes evident that the animal is a source of continuous pecuniary loss to 

 the farmer. Omitting reference to the years when the species is present in 

 excessive numbers, it is a low estimate to say that twenty-five mice live upon 

 every acre of meadow land. Hence the total number present upon an ordinarily 

 productive farm of two hundred acres would not be less than five thousand. 

 Now suppose that the owner of a farm of this size should capture and keep in 

 confinement five thousand meadow mice, feeding them upon their natural food grain 

 and the roots of grass. Would it not be strange if, in the course of a few 

 months, he should become so alarmed at the cost in dollars and cents of keeping 

 such a host of these ravenous creatures that he should have them all put to 

 death? And yet our farmers not only look on in stolid indifference while their 

 property and the fruits of their labors suffer, from this source, annual losses 

 which they can ill afford to bear, but they even help the mice to increase in 

 numbers and maintain supremacy over their fields! This they do in several ways, 

 chiefly by neglecting measures for the riddance of the mice, and, what is of vastly 

 more consequence, by encouraging the destruction of those birds and mammals 

 that habitually prey upon mice. Preeminent among these may be mentioned the 

 marsh and rough-legged hawks, all the smaller hawks and owls, the shrike, 

 the skunk, and the weasels. Thus the farmer in his shortsightedness omits no 

 opportunity to deprive himself of Nature's means of holding in check the vermin 

 that ruin his crops." 



The following works may be consulted by anyone interested in a further study 

 of the group. More detailed bibliographies will be found in the papers by Miller 

 and Stone. 



Audubon and Bachman. The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. 1846-54. 



Mearns, E. A. A Study of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Hudson Highlands. Bull. Amer. Mus. 



Nat. Hist. Vol. X, p. 303. 1898. 

 Merriam, C. H. Trans. Linnaean Soc. New York. Vol. 1 and 2. 1882-84. 



Miller, G. S., Jr. Preliminary List of New York Mammals. N. Y. State Mus. Bull. No. 29. 1899. 

 Stone, Witmer, and Cram, W. E. American Animals. New York. 1902. 



