THE OBSERVER. 



mouse is found everywhere in the woods and groves about fence rows, 

 and in fall and winter ventures to the stacks and out houses. It is a 

 good climber and often makes its home in an old bird's nest, after 

 covering the top over with fine grass and- lining it with hair or feathers. 



Microtus pennsylvanicus. Meadow Vole. — Very common in the low 

 wet meadows, especially near streams. In fall when the green meadows 

 become brown, it sometimes wanders to the cornfields " where the 

 bunches of stalks furnish it with food as well as shelter. When over 

 abundant, as it sometimes is, this Tittle mammal is most destructive to 

 crops and small fruit trees. Young orchards containing hundreds of 

 trees have been killed in one winter by being girdled beneath the sur- 

 face of the snow by these pests. Hawks and owls are its most relentless 

 enemies, and if it were not for the criminal persecution of these noble 

 birds, they would keep the mice well in check. 



Microtus pinetonmi. Pine Mouse. — Tolerably common. Its favorite 

 resorts are the dry grassy hillsides more or less grown up with small 

 bushes and briers, and old orchards, containing weeds, matted grass, 

 and young saplings. Most of the specimens secured were taken from 

 the store houses of the screech owl. 



Fibei' zibethicus. Muskrat. — Common in the salt meadows, tide 

 creeks and all the streams and ponds. As many as ten have been 

 taken in an ordinary box trap in one night. 



Zapiis Jmdsonicus. Jumping Mouse. Tolerably common. Usually 

 found in the tall grass of wet meadows near streams, but occasionally 

 observed in dry pastures. 



Lepiis sylvaticus. Cottontail. — Common. Although hundreds are 

 killed every winter neverthless they appear to be just as common at 

 the present time as twenty years ago. 



Cariacus americanus. Deer. — The last deer killed near Sing Sing 

 was a doe shot by Mr. Chas. Acker on December lo, 1861. It had 

 been seen on several occasions, at various places, and was finally secured 

 in a tract known as Bacon's Woods. 



In a letter from my lamented friend, George Ayles, dated July i, 

 1889, after describing a fishing trip made a few days previously to 

 Colabaugh Pond, a small body of water five miles north of Sing Sing, he 

 says, "At the place where we put up near the pond, the farmer told 

 me that he had seen a fine deer feeding in the meadows near his house 

 that morning. It must be the same that has been in the vicinity for 

 the past year." I never heard that this deer was killed and hope it 

 escaped. 



Lynx rufus. Wildcat. — It is probable that a few wildcats still re- 

 main in the wilder parts of the region. The last one killed in the 



