Breeclinsr 



74 MAMMALS. 



The Harvest-Mouse, the smallest of the family, is widely 

 distributed over the southern counties of England, but 



Harvest- rarer in the Midlands, and practically absent 



Mouse. from the Lake Country. In Scotland it is very 

 rare, and in Ireland is all but unknown, though it has from 

 time to time been reported. 



Like the squirrel and dormouse, it burrows, usually 

 underground or in hay-ricks, sometimes breeding in the 

 latter. Its diminutive nest is, however, more 

 often hung among the wheat or thistles, the 

 long dry grasses of which it is composed being plaited in a 

 very neat manner round the corn-stalks. Several litters, 

 each numbering from five to eight, are produced during 

 the year, the young being blind and less red in colour 

 than their parents. 



The harvest - mouse feeds on grain and insects, and 



lays up stores of the former for the winter 

 Food. -^ ,, ^ 



months. 



It is one of our smallest mammals, only the lesser shrew 



being inferior. In colour, reddish brown, with white under- 



parts. The tail, rather less than the body, is 



ppearance, prehensile, and the little creature continually 



winds it around any convenient object in order 



to steady itself, as may be observed by taking it in the 



hands. It is a curious fact that, like snakes, mice and rats 



are, if held by the tip of the tail, head downwards, unable 



to recover the upright position, or bite the captor's hand. 



[The Yellow - necked Mouse was added to the British 

 Y 11 fauna by De Winton in 1894. This variety 



necked is distinguished by the yellow band on the 

 Mouse. chest ; is reddish above and white beneath.] 



The Wood-Mouse is a large species, of wide distribution 

 in these islands, where attempts have been made to distin- 

 guish more than one variety, notably the small dark race 



