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Brewer's Beach Mouse
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- Length
- 7.80 inches.
- Description
- Larger than the meadow mouse with rather coarse fur, pale grayish yellow-brown above, ashy white below, with a tint of buff.
- Range
- Muskeget Island, Mass. Formerly also on Adams and South Point Island two small islets south of Muskeget.
This curious pallid mouse, originally derived from the same stock as the dark meadow mouse of the mainland, is a striking illustration of the effect of environment in moulding species. Not only has it changed materially in color, but its habits and mode of life have also undergone modification. The sandy soil of the island upon which it lives precludes the possibility of burrows, except perhaps in winter, and the mice pass the greater part of the year exposed to the full force of the elements, their only protection being that furnished by fragments of driftwood and wreckage. Where the mice are abundant a labyrinth of well-beaten paths crosses the sand in every direction along which the mice run when pursued. The only burrows are short ones evidently intended to reach the soft parts of the beach grass which forms their food. They construct nests or forms, open at the top and large enough to hold one animal, which are scattered about everywhere. In autumn they lay up stores of the soft stems of the beach grass (Ammophila) for winter use. These are buried in the sand, as much as a peck being concealed in one place. (See Miller—“The Beach Mouse of Muskeget Island.”)