Much of its diet, especially of the mother mouse during the time that she is nursing her young ones, is made up of insects.  A personal experience accentuates this.  Since these are such pretty little creatures, having such cunning ways, it was my ambition to catch a complete family of mother and young ones which sometimes numbered as high as ten.  My ambition was finally gratified and I was able to get a mother of eight and her tiny mouslings, which have a habit of fastening themselves securely to her breasts while she runs about, and drags them all along in a most ludicrous fashion.  At times, under these circumstances, the combined weight of the brood exceeds that of the mother mouse but they are exceptionally strong creatures for their size, a mature mouse being able to jump out of a 3-foot barrel with one leap.  In observing this brood of mice, I was particularly anxious to see what kind of a diet they throve on and tried the mother’s appetite with tidbits from the table.  While she ate most everything, it soon became apparent that something was wrong because the young ones became weaker, finally to the extent that they were unable to nurse, and one morning I found several on their backs with their feet feebly waving in the air indicating that they were dying of starvation.  At about that time I was drying some hazelnuts on a flat back porch floor and in sweeping them up found a lot of alive and dried up larvae which had escaped from the shells.  Just for fun, I swept this material up and threw it into the mouse cage.  The reaction of this treatment was gratifying, for the mother mouse pounced upon this insect life greedily devouring everything.  Within three days, the young mice were all in good health and running around showing that the milk produced from the diet that I had been giving the mother was inadequate for the baby mice.  It is therefore to their credit to state that these mice and probably at times the meadow mice do consume large quantities of larvae and grubs in the surface soil, as well as mature active insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers.

HOW TO PREPARE RODENT PROTECTORS FOR TREES

1.  Cut 6” strips from 24” wide roll of galvanized screen with a 12 x 12 mesh.

2.  Cut strips in half to make two protectors from each strip.

3.  Make bundles of 25 each by running wire through protectors.

4.  Dip these bundles in a solution containing 5 pounds of red lead per gallon of linseed oil.  Use from 3 to 5 gallons of this solution.

5.  Remove bundles and hang them on a pole with a drip pan beneath to catch the solution, which can be used again.  Allow bundles to drip for 8 hours, then separate each protector and place on grass for a few days to dry.

6.  Roll each protector around a 3/4” pipe or broomstick and it is ready for the tree.

[Illustration:  Drwg. by Wm. Kuehn. Preparation of screen guards.]