have their nests in a hole of a tree, log, root, or stump, or they may have a burrow with chambers that are several inches below the surface of the earth. Sometimes they make an outside nest of moss, grass, leaves, and inner bark, or refit birds' nests. There are several litters of young each year, which have been found from April to November. These mice, when taken young, are easily tamed. when they do it is only in the severest weather. with the long tail furrow, are common on the snow. The footprints are arranged like those of the field mouse, in twos; or when they are bounding over the surface, four prints close together are made, two larger ones in front and two smaller ones behind. They rarely hibernate; The field mice, or meadow voles, are 6.5 inches in length, and have thick, compact bodies, short legs, and very short ears. In color they are dark brown above, sprinkled with black, the under parts gray, often washed with buffy. They are abundant in fields and meadows, and feed mainly on grains and on roots of grasses. They make considerable inroads on grain when it is in the shocks, but seldom occur in sufficient numbers to do serious damage. In winter they sometimes injure trees by gnawing the bark, especially when the snow is deep. Field mice are active either by day or by night, and remain on the ground. They dig simple burrows, barely a foot in length, with a nest of grass at the end; or they may have galleries under a board or a woodpile. They are very prolific, having four to eight young at a time and raising several litters a season. In the spring they nest just below the surface of the ground; later the nest is often found in a little depression on the surface. In winter they live in nests above ground, having runways leading out under the snow. These tunnels have frequent doorways to the surface, but the mice seldom come out in winter. Their small footprints are arranged in twos, the hind feet falling exactly in the prints of the fore feet. They have many natural enemies, as marsh and roughlegged hawks, all the smaller hawks and owls, shrike, skunks, weasels, and the diminutive mole-shrew. RABBITS ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK In the northeastern United States there is only one common species of rabbit, and that is the gray rabbit, or cottontail. The varying hare, or white rabbit, which was common here fifty years ago, has become practically exterminated. This was one of the most interesting of the species because it changed its coat to white in the winter. The two most noticeable features in the general appearance of a rabbit are its long ears and its long hind legs. These two characters are closely connected: the long ears are always on the move to catch any sound of danger, and as soon as this is heard its direction is determined; then the long hind legs are used to help the little creature go in the other direction in mighty leaps. The constantly moving nose probably also has to do with sniffing danger, for it is only through sure flight that these little animals may escape from the many enemies that surround them. The rabbits are peculiar also in that the bottoms of their feet are hairy. The front feet cannot be used to hold food to the mouth, as is true of squirrels and mice, but this is not needed, since the rabbit eats on the ground. The cottontail does not dig a burrow, but sometimes occupies the deserted burrow of a woodchuck or a skunk. Its nest is called a form, which merely means a place beneath a cover of grass or briars, where the grass is beaten down or eaten out for a space large enough for the animal to sit in. The mother makes a soft bed for the young, using grass and her own hair for the purpose; and she constructs a coarse, felted coverlet, under which she tucks her babies with care every time she leaves them. When they are about three weeks old they can run rapidly. Rabbits have two long, gnawing teeth in the front of each jaw. The remaining teeth are broad grinders in the back of the mouth. All rodents except the rabbit have no teeth between the gnawing teeth and the grinding teeth, but rabbits have a small pair of teeth arranged one on each side of the upper long ones. These are left-overs from rabbit ancestors which evidently had four gnawing teeth on each jaw. It is with the front gnawing teeth that the rabbit hurts young trees by girdling them in winter when driven by starvation to feed on the bark. The cleft in the upper lip leaves the gnawing teeth free. The varieties of rabbits and hares found under domestication are: Belgian hare, fawn to red-brown in color, medium size, long and graceful; bred for the market. Common rabbit, which may be white (albino), black, maltese, or with broken colors. Angora, white or broken-colored; a small to medium breed, with short ears and silky hair; a purely fancy breed. Lop-eared, fawn to brown in color; very large ears, which droop; this is a fancy breed, very tender, requiring artificial heat in winter. Himalayan, a small medium breed; white, with black ears, nose, and feet; short hair; alert and active; a very fancy breed. Flemish Giant, very large, weighing fourteen to eighteen pounds; fawn to brown in color; seldom raised. SQUIRRELS We have several kinds of squirrels in this State, which differ widely in their appearance and habits-red, gray, fox, and flying squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks. The red squirrels, or chickarces, are well-known little "chatterboxes," found in all our woods even among the densest evergreens. Their size is small- they are twelve and one half inches in length; their backs are red, varying in shade, and the under parts are white or gray. They are the proud possessors of bushy tails. They are queer bundles of characteristics inquisitive, audacious, insolent, and mischief-loving, but intelligent, persevering, industrious, and clever, with an irresistible sense of humor. Chattering and busy throughout the day, they cut off pine cones before they are ripe and chestnuts while still in the bur. They store mushrooms in the forks of trees, awaiting the time of need. Their food is varied — nuts, acorns, seeds and roots, buds and leaf stems of certain trees, several species of toadstools, and other fungi, seeds from cones of pines and spruces, fruits and berries, beetles, birds' eggs, and even young birds. Scraps of meat or fish prove very acceptable whenever available. The red squirrels are expert climbers and good swimmers, and make good time in covering the ground. They travel by bounds, and leave footprints that consist of three or four impressions, the hind feet falling just ahead of and outside the fore feet. Unlike the track of the rabbit, the toe marks are distinct. These squirrels do not hibernate, but retire to their nests for the worst storms. They may be located in a hollow limb, a hollow in the ground, or a hollow log; or sometimes they build outside nests of twigs and bark, which are great, ball-like structures, sixteen inches across with a chamber of six inches. These they often place high up in evergreen trees. The four to six young are born about the first of April. The gray squirrels are larger than the red, nineteen and three quarters inches in length. Their backs are a clear silvery gray in winter, tinged with yellowish in summer; the under parts are white, occasionally blotched with rusty; the ears are whitish. A black phase of this animal is rather common, both colors being found in one litter. Occasionally white forms are recorded, as is true also of the red squirrel. The gray squirrels are not fond of evergreen forests, as their smaller brother is, but prefer the hardwood groves, especially the beeches which supply them both nuts Gray squirrel and favorable sites for their outside nests. These watertight apartments are built wherever the weather is not too severe, and whenever a convenient woodpecker's hole or a hollow tree or limb is not found. From below, these structures look like crows' nests, as they are built on platforms of twigs. They are so well covered that they shed the rain. Leaves are used to a considerable extent in the construction of all the nests. Nuts are the principal food of these squirrels, and they begin to eat these long before they are ripe; and they store large quantities for winter and spring. They do not gather these together in one place, but prefer to hide a few in one spot. To find them again, they must be largely dependent on their acute sense of smell. They have a saucy cry of qua-qua-qua-qua-a-a. These alert little squirrels usually escape capture by clinging to the side of the branch or trunk of the tree opposite the enemy, whether hawk or boy; but in captivity they are easily tamed and make very intelligent pets. The largest of our squirrels are the fox squirrels, which are twentythree inches long. They are very scarce in this State except in the lower part. Their backs are always tinged with rusty; the under parts are never pure white, varying from bright rusty to rusty white; and the ears are rusty. Black and semi-black individuals occur also among these animals. The little flying squirrels, only nine inches long, are quite unlike our other squirrels. They have what none of the others have broad, furry membranes connecting their front and hind legs. With their beautiful bright eyes, their drab backs somewhat shaded with russet, and their white under parts, they are as dainty animals as one could wish to see. They live on nuts, seeds, and buds, and also on beetles and perhaps other insects. Occasionally they eat flesh. Their nests are in hollow trees, frequently in deserted woodpeckers' holes. Here several of them often live together, and they may be aroused easily and driven out by hammering on the tree trunk. In accordance with their nocturnal habits they come out just at nightfall, climb to the top of a tree, and sail to the foot of another tree perhaps fifty yards away. Then, climbing this tree, they glide to another. They live in seclusion during the severest weather, but it is not known that they regularly hibernate. The young, numbering three to six, are born early in April. The chipmunks are ten inches in length and reddish or yellowish brown in color, with five black and two whitish stripes down their backs. They are very fond of nuts, preferring beechnuts; but they will eat roots, corn, and other grain, and the larvæ of certain insects. They put away large stores in their burrows, for they stay in winter quarters from the middle of November until March or April. Sometimes they come out and look around on a bright winter day. From one nest occupied by four chipmunks there was once taken a quart of beaked hazelnuts, a peck of acorns, some Indian corn, two quarts of buckwheat, and a very small quantity of grass seeds. All this they had industriously gathered and carried to their storehouse in the large pouches of their cheeks. They often have temporary "caches" carefully hidden among the leaves for one of their "cheek-loads." The chipmunks are diurnal in habit and stay on the ground most of the time, except when some venturesome sprite goes after seeds in a tree. When surprised by a passer-by, they utter a sharp chip-per-r-r-r and dash for a retreat, preferring a loose brush heap, a rail fence, or a similar structure, where they can watch readily and change their position frequently. Their homes are long, crooked tunnels in a bank, with entrances in a thicket. The burrows are one and one half or two inches in diameter, and have a network of branches. The nests are deep in the ground. The four or five young leave the nest by June and are full-grown by August. Flying squirrels |