Charles Alan Long

“ I have observed that there are no such houses on the cliffs along Shoal Creek, Cherokee County, and that no pack rats have been obtained from there (pack rats have not been reported from Cherokee County) . Blair (1938) found two brush mice (P. b. attwateri) in the house of a pack rat in Oklahoma. Nests of the brush mice that occur in Kansas have not been found.
A lactating, pregnant female (KU 81833) of P. b. attwateri, containing three embryos, was obtained on December 24, 1959, and shows that this subspecies breeds in winter. ”

“ It may occur in P. b. attwateri or in P. b. cansensis also, but there is no evidence as yet to prove it.
The brush mouse can seldom be induced to jump from heights of two feet or more. Rather it tends to scamper downward or to remain in place. It often swings itself over an edge, holding to [Pg 107] it by its hind feet, and sometimes to it lightly with its tail, and reduces a short jump by almost the length of its body. Such caution seems to be an adaptation in a mouse that lives as a climber. ”

“ In Kansas the brush mouse is confined to systems of cliffs, the faces of which range in height to at least 40 feet. The highest cliffs—some approximately 100 feet—on which brush mice are known to occur in Kansas are along Shoal Creek, Cherokee County. ”

“ Climbers (for example, squirrels) often possess long, well-haired tails. It is reasonable to suggest (as did Hall, 1955:134) that the long, tufted tail is an adaptation for a scansorial existence. Little observation is necessary to observe how such a tail is used in balancing. Furthermore, it is used as a prop when the mouse is climbing a vertical surface. ”

“ The brush mouse, Peromyscus boylii, in southern Durango. Museum Publ., Michigan State Univ., 1:97-132.
Hall, E. R.
1955. Handbook of mammals of Kansas. Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ. No. 7, 303 pp.
Hay, O. P.
1927. The Pleistocene of the western region of N. America ... Carnegie Inst. Washington, 346 pp., 12 pls.
Hibbard, C. W.
1955. The Jinglebob interglacial (Sangamon?) fauna from Kansas ... Museum of Paleo., Univ. Michigan, pp. 179-228, 2 pls.
Jackson, H. H. T.
1907. Notes on some mammals of southwestern Missouri. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 20:71-74.
Osgood, W. H.
1909. ”