GENERAL NOTES 
185 
THE MOLE-MOUSE, POTATO-MOUSE OR PINE-MOUSE 
In 1908 I built a hollow tree 7 feet through and 35 feet high, on an island of 
my lake at Cos Cob, Connecticut. It was intended to be a sort of observatory 
of the birds and beasts that commonly harbor in such places. I made a great 
variety of nesting boxes, and arranged all so that, while hidden inside, I could 
observe them. On November 12, a screech owl established himself in one of 
the hollow limbs and in the dark corner of the place soon had a regular store- 
house of surplus provisions. On December 17, I found in this owl’s larder a 
specimen of Microtus pinetorum scalopsoides, sometimes called pine-mouse, the 
first record for Connecticut. This led to a renewal of trapping activities with the 
result that I got as many of these mice as I wished; but not at all in the places, 
or under the circumstances, that are commonly mentioned as congenial. All of 
them were taken in the potato field, where they lead a life much more subter- 
ranean than that of meadowmice, but less so than that of moles. The name 
scalopsoides then is very suitable. 
Quite commonly field naturalists, when they find a new animal in their traps, 
are struck by its great unlikeness to others of its group. The facial lines and 
expressions as well as the body contour, are very different. Unfortunately 
these important matters are destined wholly to disappear in the museum skin. 
With this thought in mind I have drawn from fresh specimens of* mice as they 
came to hand. I hope they illustrate my point. 
— Ernest Thompson Seton. 
