The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-08-10
MEADOW MICE,
Copyright, 1901 by Ernest Harold
Baynes)

Baynes)
While walking along a country road
| a few days ago, / came upon the nest
of meadow mouse. Between the
/ driveway and a foot-path. which ran
along close to the fence was a strip OF
rather long grass, and as l strobe
| through this little dark-cuiored ami
| mai started almost from under my feet
/ and sped away to hole under stone
/ wall. Looking down, / saw, partly
/ concealed by the standing stalks, a lit
tie dome of dried grass, rising scarcely
| two inches above the surrounding sod.
1t was the roof of a meadow mouse
nest and had almost stepped upon it.
The nest itself, also built of dried grass
and grass roots. had been made in a
slight hollow in the ground, and the
whole structure would have been q
good double handful for man.
opened the little dome. and saw a
squirming mass of little meadow mice
on whose backs fine woolly hair was
just beginning to appear There were
eight of them, all blind; so much so
that it was difficult to determine even
the exact position of their eyes The
whiskers were already full eighth of
an inch long. The tips of the ears.
which point backward in the adult an
imal, were bent forward and fastened
down over the ear-holes like the flap of
an envelope. The skin on the little
bodies was very loose and easily wrin-
killed.. No teeth had appeared as yet,
but the position of the lower inoisors
was plainly to be seen through the
gums.
AS I handled the little fellows they
began to squeak. upon which the moth
err forgot her timidlty and came run
ming back through the grass. She did
not come right up to the nest, but she
came very close to me, and as she
stood amongst the grass stalks, watch
ing and listening, | had a good oppor-
tunity to make notes on her appear
ance. She was a large dark brownish-
gray mouse between five and six inches
long exclusive of a comparatively short
tail which would be about an inch and
a half in length. The body was thick
set and clothed with thick soft looking
fur. Her nose was rather blunt and
her ewes and ears small and almost
buried in the hair. Barring the tail,
which was round, tapering and sparse
ly covered with hair, she looked a good
deal like a miniature musk-rat. When
she stood up on her hind legs. as she
did once or twice to get a better look
at me, it could be seen that her under |
parts were ashy gray. Her whiskers
We're dark and not very long.
After | had gone l have no doubt but !
that she returned and removed her ba- |
bes to some more safe retreat, as |
have known other meadow mice to do |
on being disturbed in this way
All meadow mice DO not make their /
nests in the grass; some of them build !!
beneath the roots of trees and under i
old stumps. Sometimes, too, the nests
are made of leaves instead of grass. !
Usually in the vicinity of these little I
homes, we may find numerous narrow
winding about through the
grass, and sometimes extending for fir
ty yards or more. Often they are
slightly sunk into the surface of the
meadow, and this gives them the ap-
pearance of tiny footpaths, as in fact
they are--the footpaths of the mice. |
Along these they travel, chiefly at
night to feed on the roots of red ton
and other grasses and upon the bulbs
If meadow garlic and wild lilies. 1t is
Continued on Fifth Page,l