i86 



LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



Standing grass. At other times old Mole-runs are selected as 

 dwelling places. In such safe retreats, of whatever nature 

 they may be, the Wood-Mouse during the summer and autumn 

 accumulates enormous stores of provender for its winter con- 

 sumption ; acorns, beech-mast, nuts, peas, beans, and corn, 

 being gathered in by the pint. It is not only the loss of 

 these various seeds that the farmer has to deplore, for, in 

 districts and seasons when Wood-Mice are very abundant, 

 pigs learn to hunt for and root up these hidden stores, and 

 may then do much damage, both to pasture and arable land. 



Breeding several times in a season, after a gestation of only 

 three weeks, and producing from five to seven young in a 

 litter, the Wood-Mouse is one of the most prolific of Rodents, 

 famous as are many of these animals for their rapidity of in- 

 crease. Some idea of the rate at which they propagate may 

 be gathered from some interesting observations published by 

 Mr. R. M. Barrington in the Zoologist for 1881, by whom 

 several of these Mice were kept in captivity. It is probable, 

 however, that the number of young in a litter would not be so 

 large as in the wild state. One of these captive specimens, 

 when about five and a half months old, gave birth to a litter of 

 three on the 7th or 8th of March. Observation was kept on 

 this female (A), and a second one (B), with the following 

 result : — 



Interval since 

 last litter. 



24 days 



29 ,, 



24 ., 



2Z „ 



23 „ 



26 „ 



27 „ 



