'rill'] s'i'oNi'; i.KiM.MiNc; .moi sk, 



52:? 



Range. — Proiii. southern New Jersey to Indiana; the limits of 

 the range are not known. In this state it seems to be of common 

 occurence in all sections. Records are: Roselawn, Hebron, Wol- 

 eottville, Nashville, Brookville, Bascom, Bloomington, JMitchell. 



Habits. — East of the Alleghenies the lemming mice are found 

 only in sphagnum bogs and swamps. In Indiana I have but a single 

 specimen recorded from a swamp. That one was taken in a tama- 

 rack swamp near the Lagrange-Nolile County line east of Wol- 

 eotville. 



.\t other places they seem to be confined to ^ireas covered with 

 dense blue grass. Their habits there are similar to those of the 

 prairie vole and the two species are often found together ; whether 

 they live in harmony I do not know. Butler and Quick say of it 

 that it prefers open woods pastures where there is little under- 

 growth. They state that it is the most active of our mice and is 

 off like a flash if disturbed when under cover. 



These authors are mistaken in saying that the nest is always 

 placed under cover. I have found a conical nest ten inches in 

 diameter and five inches high placed on the ground with no cov- 

 ering except a very thin veil of dry grass blades. It was incon- 

 spicuous, however, for it was made of moss and grass and placed 

 in a hummocky, place among some sumach bushes. The lining was 

 of fine, dry grass. 



Inside were four little mice about two and one-half inches long, 

 with open eyes and body fully covered with hair. I took them to the 

 house, made a warm nest for them and began to feed them milk 

 with a pipette. They seemed to thrive for two days, then all died 

 suddenly. An old mouse, apparently their mother, was caught at 

 the site of the nest. She would have given birth to five more young 

 in a week or ten days. The usual number of young at a birth seems 

 to be four, but three and five are not infrequent. 



These mice live on grass more exclusively than any other species 

 that I know. However, they sometimes eat seeds and roots, and 

 like some species of M icrof us, sometimes store up supplies in the 

 winter. Butler and Quick state that they sometimes store up large 

 quantities of the roots of the wild artichoke {HeliantJms) . 



Economic status. — No doubt this species, like all other members 

 of the family, sometimes does damage to grain and vegetables. But 

 of this I have no direct evidence, for I have never caught the 

 species in cultivated fields nor do T know that it has ever been 

 taken in such places. 



