70 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 
Buckland has related. When oysters are left ont of water 
for any length of time, especially in hot weather, they al- 
ways open their shells a little way, probably seeking a 
drink of water. A mouse hunting about for food found 
such an oyster in the larder, and put his head in to nibble 
at the oyster’s beard; instantly the bivalve shut his shells, 
THE MOUSE AND THE OYSTER. 
and held them together so tightly by his strong muscles 
that the poor mouse could not pull his head out, and so 
died of suffocation. Other similar cases have been known. 
The most common of all our field-mice is the short-tailed 
meadow-mouse, the Avvicola. I find it in the woods, out 
on the prairies, and in the hay-fields. In summer these lit- 
