HABITS 01 COMMON mi \i>»>\\ MICE. 17 
with great valor, and their sharp teeth are rather formidable weapon . 
Sometime.* after capture one seems to give waj i<» uncontrollable 
anger, and when placed in :i cage with others "I the same species h 
is eager to attack all its fellows. Wlien t \\ < » engage in combat 1 1 1 « • x 
-i a in I u | * on the hind feet and fight with claws and teeth, keeping up 
■ constant squeak 
M.-adow mire soon adapt themselves i«» confinement. They eat 
almost ;in\ food offered and soon become tame. I find, however, that 
certain succulent roots, particularly those of the wild white morning 
glor^ (C on volvulus septum), are preferred to everything else. This 
root tastes much like sweet potato and is abundant in swamps and 
waste places frequented by the mice. While feeding they -it up on 
their hind legs and use the front paws to handle the roots, after the 
manner of squirrels. 
This species often stores up food in underground galleries. I have 
Be vera] times discovered such hoard-, consisting of leaves or succulent 
stems, but more frequently entirely of the morning-glory roots 
already spoken of. On March 5, 1907, I collected the contents of such 
a cache, which weighed 18 ounces (PL II). 
The species under consideration never lives in barns or outbuild- 
ings. It- nearest approach to human habitations is the stackyard or 
piles of wood or boards left on the edge of orchard- or fields near 
houses. In the far north a closely related specie-, the Drummond 
vole i .1/. drummondi) . enter- house- and barns much after the manner 
of the common house mouse. 
The common meadow mouse is especially noted for long winter 
excursions from it- summer abode, hiding it- movements under cover 
of deep -now. The journey- of the animals are not suspected until 
the -now disappears, when the trails can be traced to great distances. 
They reach wheat, rye. clover, and timothy held- and often extend 
into orchards, nurseries, lawn-, and gardens, all of which are injured 
by the animal.-. Havstacks or shocks of corn and other grain are 
Mire to Hitler if left out over winter. 
The Old World species of field mice most noted for extensive 
ravages of crops, and including such well-known forms as M. agrestis, 
M . arvalls, and M. hartingi, are very closely related to our common 
meadow mouse. Many of the more prominent American species, as 
the Drummond vole (J/, drummondi), the Peale vole (.1/. montanus), 
the dwarf vole (J/, nanus), the Town-end vole (M, townsendi), and 
the California vole (J/, calif ornicus) , belong to the same group. 
Their wide distribution brings meadow mice into contact with agri- 
culture over ureal area-, and this fact, added to their prolific breed- 
ing, renders the group the mo-t destructive one in the genus under 
consideration. As farming i> pushed northward in the British 
10700— No. 31—07 3 
