. Wild animals of Glacier National Park. The mammals, with notes on physiography and life zones . ds of grasses and other small plants. To obtain the seed-ladenheads of tall grasses they reach up and cut off the stem and draw itdown to the ground; then, repeating tiie operation, they cut off sec-tions and draw the stem down until the seeds are brought withinreach. These are eaten and other stems are cut and drawn down inthe same manner until a good square meal is obtained. The sectionsof grass stems thus cut are usually three or four inches long and canalways be recognized as the work of this
. Wild animals of Glacier National Park. The mammals, with notes on physiography and life zones . ds of grasses and other small plants. To obtain the seed-ladenheads of tall grasses they reach up and cut off the stem and draw itdown to the ground; then, repeating tiie operation, they cut off sec-tions and draw the stem down until the seeds are brought withinreach. These are eaten and other stems are cut and drawn down inthe same manner until a good square meal is obtained. The sectionsof grass stems thus cut are usually three or four inches long and canalways be recognized as the work of this mouse, in distinction fromthose of the other mice with shorter legs that can not reach so highand consequently cut their grass stems into shorter sections. Littleheaps of these long giass sections scattered through the meadows willoften indicate the presence and abundance of the species and give thenaturalist a clue to places where his traps will yield specimens. The four to eight young are born in the grass nests, and by earlyautumn have become almost full grown and are laying in a supply of. Photo, by C. Birdseye. Bf296l Fig. 11.—Jumping mouse, from photosraph of acaptive individual at Florence, ]Mont. MAMMALS. 71 fat for winter. Unlike most of our native mice they do not lay upstores of food, but become excessively fat, and with the first coldweather of autumn enter a long period of hibernation. Soft, warmwinter nests are constructed in little cavities well under ground, andin these the mice curl up for their long winter sleep. Usually theyare not found abroad after the first killing frost in September andare not again seen until the snow has disappeared in xVpril or are among the most harudoss and attractive of the great varietyof little animals to which the odious name of mouse has been unjustlygiven. They do not belong to the same family as any of the otherso-called mice or small rodents of the region, and in some respectsshow a closer relationship to porcuj^in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectmam
