BAILEY — CAPTURING SMALL MAMMALS 
63 
CAPTURING SMALL MAMMALS FOR STUDY 
By Vernon Bailey 
As we look backward the field study of mammals seems a compara- 
tively recent development in North American mammalogy. Briefly, 
the published works of Richardson in 1829, Audubon and Bachman in 
1845, Baird in 1857, Coues and Allen in 1877, and Merriam in 1884 
mark the development of mammal study in this country. Among 
these Baird was the pioneer in the formation of a North American 
collection of mammals, but the fact that satisfactory methods of 
collecting and preserving small mammals had not been devised, pre- 
vented the accumulation of series of specimens meeting the demands 
of modern methods of study. It remained for Doctor Merriam and 
his associates to develop the science along these lines, and under his 
guidance the large series of specimens which laid the foundation of 
our present knowledge of the mammals of North America were brought 
together. The methods of collecting were gradually standardized and 
improved until today we have many museums stocked with well-pre- 
pared and carefully labeled specimens. Intensive collecting should be 
continued until the gaps in our museum series are filled, and every 
college, normal school and high school has its collection of local species. 
The series of mammal specimens in the Biological Survey collection 
have now reached such proportions that along certain lines of collecting 
we are slowing up. The present policy of the survey is to collect fewer 
and only choice specimens except in special cases or in unworked 
areas. This affords what many of us have long felt the need of, more 
time for a closer study of fife-histories. 
The recent outlines for field study of fife-histories by Seton, Nelson, 
Taylor, and Anderson are steps in the right direction. These are mere 
outlines, however, and while rich in suggestions they need to be ampli- 
fied for the benefit of beginners. 
The first question that arises is where and how to find something to 
collect or study. Take the abundant and easy things first. One can 
find plenty of meadow mice and white-footed mice almost anywhere 
outside of city limits. Go into the meadows, old fields, or grassy 
fence rows, get down on your knees, part the grass, and you will prob- 
ably find little trails or runways over the surface of the ground. Their 
appearance, bits of cut grass stems, and other signs of occupation 
generally tell you if the mice are there. Or go into the woods or to a 
rocky slope and look under logs, in hollow trees, under stones, in little 
