A Comparison of Different Methods of Capturing and Estimating Numbers of Mice

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Abstract
The number of mice of two species, Mus musculus and Peromyscus polionotus, on an abandoned peanut field was determined by live-trapping using the mark-release technique and also by capturing the mice by digging out their burrows. The two sampling methods gave results that were significantly different. Available evidence suggests that the latter technique revealed the exact structure of the population. The mark-release method overestimated the male population of M. musculus as calculated by the Lincoln index but not by the Hayne method, and underestimated the female population of P. polionotus as calculated by either method. Males of both species were more readily trapped than were females, especially when the females were pregnant or lactating or both. These results are best interpreted in terms of the relative amount of movement shown by the different types of mice.