The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-06-14
The Mead0ar- Mouse.
ERNEST Ingersoll. in St. Nicholas

The most common of feld-mice is the
short-tailed meadow-mouse, the Arvicola.
find it in the woods, out on the prairies,
and in the hay-felds. In summer these
little creatures inhabit the low, wet
meadows in great numbers. When the
heavy rains Of autumn drive them out,
they move to higher and dryer ground,
and look for some hillock, or old ant-hill,
under which to dig their home. In dig
ging they scratch rapidly with the fore
feet few times, and then throw back
the earth to great distance with the
hind feet, frequently loosening the dirt
with their teeth, and pushing it aside
with their noses. As the hole grows
deeper horizontally they will lie on
their backs and dig overhead, every little
while backing slowly out, and showing
the loose earth to the entrance. These
winter burrows are only FIVE or six
inches below the surface, and sometimes
are simply followed out under a great
stone, but are remarkable for the numer-
GUS and complicated chambers and side
passages of which they are composed.
In one of the largest rooms of this SUBJ
terranean house is placed their winte r
bed, formed of fine dry grass. Its shape
and size are about that of football,
with only small cavity in the center,
entered through hole in the side, and
they creep in as do Arctic travellers into
their fur-bags.
"Thou saw the fields laid bare an waste,
An weary winter comm fast,
An cozy here, beneath the blast
Thou thought to dwelln
Here five or six young mice are born,
and stay until the coming of warm
weather, by which time they are grown,
and 60 out to take care OF themselves.
Sometimes one of them, instead of hunt
ing up wife and getting ahome of his
own, will wander off by himself and live
alone like hermit, growing crosser as
he grows older.
In the deepest part of the burrow is
placed their store of provisions. Uncover
one of these little granaries in Novem-
ber, before the owners have used much
of it, and you might find FIVE or six
quarts of seeds, roots, and small nuts.
Out on the prairie the store would con-
sist chiefly of the round tubers-like
very small potatoes-of the spike-fower,
few juicy roots of some other weeds
and grasses, bulbs of the wild onion
and so forth. If wheat or rye patch
was near, there would be quantities of
grain; and if you should open nest
under log or stump in the woods, you
might discover a hundred or so chestnuts,
beech-nuts, and acorns, nicely shelled.
All these stores are carried to the bur
rows, often from long distances, in their
baggy cheeks, which are a mouse's
pockets, and they work with immense
industry, knowing just when to gather
this and that kind of food for the winter.
A friend of mine, who had farm near
the Hudson River, had nice field Of
rye, which he was only waiting day or
two longer to harvest until it should be
ready. But the very night before he
went to cut it, the mice stole large
portion of the grain and carried it off to
their nests in the neighboring woods.
Hunting up these nests he got back from
two of them about half bushel of rye,
which was perfectly good. Sometimes
they build nests in the russell corn-shocks
left standing in the sere October fields,
and store up there heaps of food, al
though there may be no necessity, so
firmly fixed in their mindsis the idea of
preparing for the future. But they eat
a great deal, and there stores are none
too large to outlast the long, dreary
months, when the ground is frozen hard,
and the meadows are swept by the
wintry winds, or packed under blanket
of snow.