RODENT PESTS OF THE FARM. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introductory 3 



Harmful native rodents 4 



Short-tailed field mice 4 



White-footed mice 7 



Cotton rats 7 



Kangaroo rats 8 



Pocket gophers 9 



Ground squirrels 11 



Page. 



Harmful native rodents— Continued. 



Prairie-dogs 15 



Woodchucks 17 



Rabbits 18 



Other native rodents 19 



Introduced rodents 20 



Relation of carnivorous animals to rodents 21 



Cooperation in controlling rodents 22 



INTRODUCTORY. 



RODENTS are among the most persistent and aggressive of the 

 animal enemies of the tiller of the soil, and against them he 

 is often more helpless even than against insect pests, because he has 

 had less instruction as to their habits and the means of fighting them. 

 To assist him by giving short accounts of the more important 

 rodents that injure farm, ranch, and orchard, together with brief 

 practical directions for destroying the pests, is the purpose of this 

 bulletin. 



The rodents of North and Middle America include about 77 

 distinct groups called genera, 44 of which have representatives north 

 of Mexico. These 44 groups include about 750 forms that inhabit the 

 United States and Canada. Many of them live in deserts, moun- 

 tains, and swamps and rarely come in contact with cultivated crops. 

 These, therefore, can not be classed as injurious; and, indeed, many 

 of them are beneficial to the soil, as they stir it up and fit it for 

 future agricultural uses. A few rodents feed largely upon insects 

 and help to keep a check upon the hordes of grasshoppers and 

 similar pests. Certain of the rodents, too, as the beaver and the 

 muskrat, have a decided economic value as fur bearers; while some, 

 as the rabbits and the tree squirrels, afford sport in hunting and 

 are useful as human food. 



The noxiousness of rodents depends largely upon the localit}^ in 

 which they live and updn their relation to man and his interests. 

 All are chiefly vegetarian in diet and by reason of their rapid repro- 

 duction are capable of becoming pests ; but it is only when they are 

 actively injurious that means of control are needed. 



