Evening star., 1946-02-27
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdceUell.
CHEVY CHASE, Md.


Dear Sir:
I'VE do enjoy your column because
your subjects are most about This and
That which lives in the U. S.tA., there
fore making it easy for one to learn
more about them.
MY subject Is the mouse. Please de-
scribe the difference between the house
mouse and field mouse.
Some say the house mouse is longer
and thinner and field mice are smaller
and chunky with silky hair.
Thanking you for this information,
remain, Sincerely yours, e. D."
House mice and field mice are very
interesting animals.
They are all the more interesting, per-
haps, because they are known to every
one. This comes about because the
house mouse, so called, does not live in
houses alone, but often lives out doors,
and the field mouse, or common meadow
mouse, may some times be found in
DOORS
The house mouse has q total length
OF 6.3 inches, which includes a theoreti-
cal 3-inch tail The meadow mouse has
total length of 6.7 inches, with a q
inch tail. The house mouse has point
ed nose. good-sized ears, with tail longer
than head and body. The mouse Is
tawny brown in color,
The field mouse has a short tail, with
a. heavier body than that Of the house
mouse. The ears seem very small and
and its general color is grayish brown,
1t Is no wonder that house mice are
everywhere, for they begin to breed
when about 8 months old. From half a
dozen to 10 young are in each nest.
Lltters come every 10 weeks There are
lew more prolific animals than this one.
The young which find no living In the
mouse are pushed out into the barns and
outhouses and fields. Some of them
work their way from house to house.
NO one need think because mice are
little they do not belong to great fam
lily. The Muridae, or the family of rats
and mice, Is the largest of all mammal
groups. In our own country it is said
that almost one-fourth of all the four
footed animals belong to it.
Mice and rats are by nature travellers.
utilizing for this purpose not only their
own legs but every means of travel in
vented by man, so that today all of
them are spread all over the world.
Rats which carry diseases are the
brown rat and black rat and a few
others, all of which were brought here
or brought themselves here. Few Of o,,r
native rats are Of this class being clean
er in every way.
The little house mouse need not
therefore, cause any one to shrink. Ger
talnly IT Will cause no house cat to do so.
Some economists claim that If it were
not Tor cats, there would be no agricul-
ture worth speaking of, owing to house
and Held mice depredations. The cat is
their natural control and does good
Job OF 1t, although he is not given the
credit which he deserves.
good lively cat will clean an entire
neighborhood Of mice if he is let alone.
He cannot be blamed for not tackling
rats. large rat is almost as big as a
cat and is tough fighter. The rat is
proper prey for dogs, but it is common
knowledge that many dogs are either
too lazy or afraid to tackle them.
1t Is significant that when cities en-
bark on rodent killing campaigns it is
the rat and not the mouse that they
are after. The cats have already at
tended to the mice.
The meadow mouse, in some sections
called the field vole, is extremely adapt
able. They tend to take on the general
all-over color of their environment, be-
coming almost white in Alaska. and red
in clay lands. They can even travel
under the snow. While some authorities
claim that they do not enter houses.
householders may suspect that any ex-
ceptionally large indoor mouse is a
meadow mouse that has taken into its
head to come indoors for time.
One may feel that the timidity, So
called, of mice and rats Is due more to
plan than any real fear. These shrewd
fellows have found 1t pays. Perhaps
they remember the old Chinese saying.
that Of the 20 ways of getting out Of
trouble. the best Il to run away
y