HABITS OF COMMON MEADOW MICE. 17 



with great valor, and their sharp teeth are rather formidable weapons. 

 Sometimes after capture one seems to give way to uncontrollable 

 anger, and when placed in a cage with others of the same species it 

 is eager to attack all its fellows. When two engage in combat they 

 stand up on the hind feet and fight with claws and teeth, keeping up 

 a constant squeaking. 



Meadow mice soon adapt themselves to confinement. They eat 

 almost any food offered and soon become tame. I find, however, that 

 certain succulent roots, particularly those of the wild white morning- 

 glory (Convolvulus septum), are preferred to everything else. This 

 root tastes much like sweet potato and is abundant in swamps and 

 waste places frequented by the mice. While feeding they sit up on 

 their hind legs and use the front paws to handle the roots, after the 

 manner of squirrels. 



This species often stores up food in underground galleries. I have 

 several times discovered such hoards, consisting of leaves or succulent 

 stems, but more frequently entirely of the morning-glory roots 

 already spoken of. On March 5, 1907, 1 collected the contents of such 

 a cache, which weighed 18 ounces (PL II). 



The species under consideration never lives in barns or outbuild- 

 ings. Its nearest approach to human habitations is the stackyard or 

 piles of wood or boards left on the edge of orchards or fields near 

 houses. In the far north a closely related species, the Drummond 

 vole (31. drummondi) , enters houses and barns much after the manner 

 of the common house mouse. 



The common meadow mouse is especially noted for long winter 

 excursions from its summer abode, hiding its movements under coA^er 

 of deep snow. The journeys of the animals are not suspected until 

 the snow disappears, when the trails can be traced to great distances. 

 They reach wheat, rye, clover, and timothy fields and often extend 

 into orchards, nurseries, lawns, and gardens, all of which are injured 

 by the animals. Haystacks or shocks of corn and other grain are 

 sure to suffer if left out over winter. 



The Old World species of field mice most noted for extensive 

 ravages of crops, and including such well-known forms as 31. agrestis, 

 31. arvalis, and 31. hartingi, are very closely related to our common 

 meadow mouse. Many of the more prominent American species, as 

 the Drummond vole (31. dmimmondi), the Peale vole (31. montanus) , 

 the dwarf vole (31. nanus), the Townsend vole (31. toicnsendi), and 

 the California vole (31. calif ornic us) , belong to the same group. 

 Their wide distribution brings meadow mice into contact with agri- 

 culture over great areas, and this fact, added to their prolific breed- 

 ing, renders the group the most destructive one in the genus under 

 consideration. As farming is pushed northward in the British 

 10700— No. 31—07 3 



