SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



375 : 



Illlillill 1 ^ 



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Photograph by Howard Taylor Middleton 



a millennial scene: a rabbit-hound and a young rabbit enjoying each 



other's society 



Here the camera records a friendship almost as remarkable as that which is to mark the 

 association of the lion and the lamb in the final days of the world's history 



from squirrels to mice, have been found 

 to be confirmed flesh eaters. 



The destruction of the eggs and young 

 of birds, both on the ground and in the 

 trees, by these animals must have a far- 

 reaching effect in reducing the number 

 of insectivorous and other small birds. 

 Some small rodents, as the grasshopper- 

 mice, subsist mainly upon insects and 

 flesh. 



The naturalist who sets traps for small 

 rodents in field or forest is constantly 

 annoyed by finding trapped animals partly 

 devoured by their fellows. When mice 

 or rats are confined together in cages and 

 provided with an abundance of vegetable 

 food, it is a common experience to find 

 that the stronger kill and eat the weaker 

 ones, until in a short time only a single 

 survivor remains. These cannibalistic 

 traits are strongly developed in the com- 

 mon house rat, which is notorious for 

 its savagery toward others of its kind. 



CASES OE CONCENTRATED FEROCITY 



To a certain extent the ferocity of 

 mammals appears to increase in propor- 

 tion to a decrease in their size. The 

 smaller members of the weasel family — 

 the weasels — are relatively far more ac- 

 tive and bloodthirsty than the minks, mar- 

 tens, and other larger members of the 

 group. 



If the common weasel should be in- 

 creased to the bulk of a mountain-lion 

 and retain its nature and physical prow- 

 ess, it would be many times more danger- 

 ous than any existing carnivore and the 

 devastations it would commit would be 

 appalling. Even the tiny insect-eating 

 shrews are endowed with a fierce and ag- 

 gressive spirit scarcely equaled among 

 larger animals. 



Rodents and insectivorous mammals 

 are without effective weapons of offense 

 or defense against the birds and beasts 



