24 



MAMMALS OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS 



slender branch overhanging the water, and as it clung 

 there its eyes seemed on the point of popping out. They 

 build a nest of tine bark, grass, etc., sometimes in a hole 

 in a tree, sometimes on the ground under the roots, and at 

 times appropriate the nests of song birds and fit them up 

 much the same as the squirrels do the nests of crows and 

 hawks. They usually have four young, very small and 

 helpless, with slate-colored bodies and no hair. As they 

 are largely nocturnal in their habits, they are seldom seen 

 in the daytime, except when disturbed from their nests. 

 At such times they are quite tame. 



Eastern red-backed mouse. Evotomys gapperi och- 

 raceus Miller. 



Rare, one taken at Ipswich and one at Methuen was the 

 record of the county until 1912. Then several were taken 

 at Essex by W. S. Brooks and myself. This little mouse, 

 though very much like the Meadow Mouse in size and 

 shape, is easily identified by its longer tail, and the bright 

 chestnut color of the back. It lives in cool, damp woods 

 and swamps, and it is probable that it is not so rare as has 

 been supposed, as it would not be likely to be seen or 

 taken unless especially sought. The young lack the rusty 

 red tints. 



Meadow mouse; Meadow vole; Field mouse. 



Microtus pennsylv aniens (Ord). 



Color, dark brown above sometimes with a very slight 

 reddish tinge shading to gray on the under side. Common 

 in grassy fields and marshes. If hard pushed, they take 

 readily to the water and swim well. They build a nest of 

 dried grass under a rock or old log on the uplands. This 

 nest looks like a pile of dead grass and is about 5 or 6 

 inches in diameter. Their path to it is made by gnawing 

 off the grass close down to the roots, and is about an inch 

 or more in width, the grass bending over enough to meet 

 overhead and form a tunnel. They also dig burrows five 

 or six inches deep, having nests of fine dried grasses at 

 the bottom where the young are born. 



