144 
grain-reaper divested of its grain-apron—a machine often used before 
the day of the light mowing machines. These burrows are not very 
deep, rarely extending to the bottom of the hills, which were from twelve 
to fifteen inches high, and from three to six feet across. The nest is of 
fine grass, placed in one of the enlarged, numerous channels of which 
the burrow is compcesed. The nests are round bunches of grass, with a 
small cavity in the center and a small passage leading to it. Here the 
first litter, at least, is produced. Similar nests are found in the grass, 
however, containing young, in the summer and fall. 
Burrows, nests, and runways are mad» by this species under the snow 
in winter. These runways are also made on the ground, from burrow to 
burrow. They are scarcely noticeable, as they are covered with the 
overarching grass, and yet they are more abundant, proportionally, than 
the streets and alleys of a populous city. Along these runways they seek 
their food, which consists of seeds, roots, and grasses. Mr. Kennicott 
found in the deepest part of one of the excavations, in November, five 
or six quarts of the round tubers of two species of Blazing Star (/aatris), 
roots of Helianthus, grasses, and several bulbs of wild onions. The 
fleshy roots of the upland Rosin weeds, or Compass plant (Silphiwm laci- 
natum), are freely eaten by this species. These roots are often four or five 
inches in diameter, and yet tender enough to be easily cut by a good 
ploughshare. I have often found them gnawed into irregular sh«pes, 
probably by this species. 
When corn is cut in the autumn, a pair of these Mice will inhabit a 
shock, making a burrow under it, and collecting quantities of corn in 
the burrow. This is done in winter and spring, as well as in autumn. 
They are not gregarious; two pairs are never found in the same hole. 
They soon become reconciled to confinement, rarely attempting to gnaw 
out. Those kept by Mr. Kennicott were omnivorous, eating raw fresh 
meat, hickorynuts, leaves, and roots of garden plants, grain and vegeta- 
bles, in enormous quantities. Three ate, in one day, besides other food, 
the germs from all the kernels of a good-sized ear of corn. In eating, 
they grasped the food in their fore paws, which are used as hands, with 
all the facility of a Squirrel. The food is cut in small pieces by the in- 
cisors, and then ground by the molars. In digging, the earth is exca- 
vated with the fore feet, and thrown back by the hind feet; the dirt is 
pushed aside with the nose, and also frequently loosened with the teeth. 
They sometimes dug horizontally, lying on the back, and in removing 
the earth from an extended burrow, would come out backwards, pro wing 
back the earth with both front and back feet. 
Regarding the carnivorous propensities and ferocious habits of this 
species, I copy the following from Mr. Kennicott’s personal observations: 
