CHAPTER VIII 



BRITISH GNAWING MAMMALS {cOHtinued) 



3. Mice and Voles 



The most familiar of all the Mice is the House Mouse. 

 It certainly calls for little or no introduction, as its 

 presence is too much impressed in divers ways upon 

 the average householder. Although in the main 

 confined to the precincts of inhabited dwellings, still 

 the House Mouse takes very kindly to outhouses 

 and fields generally. Its size is about 3|- inches, 

 measuring the head and body, and the tail is quite as 

 long. The ears are rather big and rounded, and the 

 eyes small and coal-black in colour. It is a gourmand 

 in more senses than one. Nothing appears to come 

 amiss to this little nibbler, be it cheese or ham, biscuit 

 or apple-tart. Failing household dainties, it will fall 

 back on the scraps about the cesspool, or hunt the 

 plantation for stray nuts. The same cosmopolitan 

 attributes are shown by the House Mouse in its 

 selection and furnishing of a home. It will take up 

 its quarters either under or on the floor, in the wall 

 crevices, or amongst the rafters. For material to 

 construct its nest, it will carry cloth, paper, straw, 

 wood shavings, or any household sundries that may 

 come in its way. The nest is by no means tidy, but 

 B.L.M. 73 10 



