Habits of the Swamp Rice Rat, Oryzomys Palustris Palustris (Harlan)

Along the South Atlantic coast line, illimitable marshes of swamp grass cover the mud flats of lowlands of the tidal zone (Fig. 1). Here, in the cover of dense vegetation, rice rats occur in great numbers, their runway threading the black mud covered daily by the tides, or rising into the higher ground which skirts the tidal zone. The abundance of these rodents, the ease of capture and their docile behavior in captivity, make them ideal laboratory animals. It is therefore surprising that so little has been recorded of their habits. Observations on rice rats were made by Audubon and Bachman (1854), to which little has been added to the present day. Goldman (918) has presented a brief review of the habits of these rodents. Harper (1927) gives some interesting data on the nests and behavior of this species in the Okefinokee Swamp of Georgia, while Svihla (1931) has recorded observations on the Texas rice rat (Oryzomys palustris texensis). Other than these accounts, published data on the life history of this widespread genus is all but lacking. Rice rats range from New Jersey and the central part of the Mississippi Valley southward, being well represented in nearly every part of South America and reaching their greatest development in the tropics. More than 150 species and subspecies have been described, but little other than a name has been assigned to the majority of these, the habits having been totally unexplored.