754 | The American Naturalist. [September, 
MASSETT, QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDs, 
Brrrisa COLUMBIA, February 22, 1896. 
Samuel N. Rhoads, Esq., Philadelphia, Dear Sir :—The following 
notes I have made lately on the character of Sitomys keeni may be of 
interest. Use them as you think best. 
Sitomys keenii is the common house mouse here, and specimens are 
very numerous. I recently confined an adult female in a fairly spacious 
cage with glass front, I subsequently introduced three other nearly adult 
specimens. , At first the old female resented the intrusion, but soon be- 
came reconciled. The younger ones may have been her offspring, 
having been taken in the same place. On two other occasions I intro- 
duced an adult male taken in another locality, whereupon the old female 
in each case attacked the intruder fiercely, chased him all over the cage 
till he was exhausted, and then flew at his thoat and bit him so severely 
that he died almost immediately. A shrew introduced later she treated 
in the same manner. 
After a couple of days they became reconciled to confinement, and 
indifferent to being watched whilst feeding or at play. They ate bread 
moistened with milk and raw potatoes, but showed a marked preference 
for wheat. The wheat they never ate on the spot, but filled their 
pouches with it, and ascending a sloping board deposited it in their 
sleeping place. This they did with great rapidity, and a handful soon 
disappeared. The average number of corns taken at one mouthful was 
ten, but once or twice the old mouse took as many as sixteen. The 
first few corns they took up with their mouths, but used their feet to 
cram in the rest. When their pouches were full their heads were twice 
their normal size, and their expression extremely droll. 
The storing propensity is evidently very strong. It is quite a com- 
mon occurrence to find any empty article, which has been unused for a 
few days, half full of rice or corn when next taken up. Boots and shoes 
seem to be the favorite storing places; but a neighbor of mine, on visit- 
ing his outhouse, found the oven of a disused stove half full of rice, 
which had been obtained from sacks close by. 
When in a trap, frightened, these mice sound an alarm by suddenly 
contracting the nails of the fore-foot so as to cause a sharp scratch on 
the floor. This they repeat several times, using sometimes one fore. 
foot, sometimes the other, but never the hind-feet. 
` Sitomys keenii is the only mouse here; Mus musculus, though on the 
opposite mainland, not having yet found its way thus far. In the sum- 
mer of 1894 S. keenii was unusually numerous. An Indian crossing to 
