MUS MINUTUS. 26 



longitudinal half showing no vegetation. The ditch , how- 

 ever , being blind at the end , became partly dry , by 

 evaporation, during the hot season. It was in the reeds 

 of this ditch , that a part of the colony of the Dwarf-Mouse 

 had settled and had built their nests , also making use , 

 for this purpose, of the herbs growing near the bor- 

 der side. 



After having detected the colony, I gave my orders to a 

 man , who for more than forty years has been in the service of 

 the Museum, and who has no other charge than accompanying 

 myself or our sportsmen when out in the field , a man who 

 catches birds , fishes and other animals , seeks nests and eggs of 

 birds and gathers all sorts of objects from the sea-shore. Du- 

 ring the whole year , he was to go to the spot every week , in 

 order to observe the little mice in question , and to extend 

 his excursions, in search for others, for several miles in 

 the neighbourhood , whereas I myself from time to time vi- 

 sited the field of our observations. 



It soon appeared, that the reeds of the ditch contained 

 about fifty nests of the Dwarf-Mouse , that isolated nests 

 were found in the neighbouring lanes , scattered here and 

 there in herbs growing amongst the brushwood , and that a 

 small part of the colony had established itself, likewise 

 in herbs amongst brushwood , at the distance of about a 

 mile from the principal colony, occupying the reeds of the 

 ditch. The nests of this smaller colony were likewise 

 scattered in places fit for the purpose, and their number 

 observed did not exceed about twenty. 



The discovery of so considerable a number of the cu- 

 rious nests of the Dwarf-Mouse, in a comparatively limited 

 space , afforded great satisfaction , the more so as a pre- 

 vious and active search after them during forty three 

 years had led to no other result than the discovery of two 

 such nests: the one found, in the year 1853, among the 

 branches of a shrub of Hippophaë rhamnoides, in the 

 downs to the north of the village of Noordwijk upon Sea ; 

 the other, found in the year 1854, placed in one of the 



Notes frova the Ueyden Museum, Vol. III. 



