526 MURID/A—APODEMUS 
nest is so much appreciated that acorns are carried up to them 
from the ground. 
According to Blasius, it will bark young trees when in want, 
a circumstance noted also by Mr Rope’ and Mr Abbey. 
A remarkable winter habit of entering disused tunnels at 
Alderley Edge, Cheshire, to more than 150 yards from the 
entrance, was related by Mr Oldham,” the object, as shown 
by the contents of their stomachs, having been to feed on 
hibernating gnats, flies, and moths. The burrows in the 
tunnels themselves and the food seemed to indicate that they 
actually lived in the recesses for the time being, and became 
entirely insectivorous, and were not merely on a visit. In a 
case recorded by Mr Edwin Birchall* the wings of hundreds 
of individuals of twenty species of moths were found in a 
small cave by the river Wharfe, near Ilkley, Yorkshire; the 
circumstances pointed to the work of Field Mice, and on a 
trap being set, one was caught, the mice having apparently 
carried their prey into the cave from the adjoining woods. 
S. Clogg, however, referred the killing of the moths to a 
spider whose web was observed in the cave (Zoologest, 1866, 
105, 350, 458; 1869, 1719; 1871, 2763); while Edward New- 
man (zé2d., 1866, 386), Henry Doubleday (zézd., 1866, 387), and 
W. F. Howlett (/ozsx. czt., 1871, 2802) attributed it to bats. 
Quite unlike the House and Harvest Mice, the Field Mouse 
is rarely found in stacks of corn, and enters dwelling-houses 
very exceptionally, wherein it appears to differ from the 
Yellow-necked Mouse, which seems quite fond of houses.* An 
exceptional instance was sent us by Mr C. H. Alston, 
in whose house, at Letterawe, Loch Awe, Argyll, House 
Mice are fortunately unknown. Their place is taken by 
Field Mice, which seem to be now permanently in occupa- 
tion. Unlike the House Mouse, they rarely gnaw a hole for 
themselves, but enter the house by burrowing through crevices 
in the stones in the foundations, and then creep up through 
small cracks in the floors, and thus get inside the partitions. 
Its destructiveness is increased by its provident habit of 
1 Of. cit., 204. 2 Zoologist, 1900, 421. 3 Jbid., 1866, 8, 284. 
4 Mr Adams informs us that he has caught these mice frequently in cellars and 
outhouses ; on one occasion he found some in a stack. 
a AL LR mm a ali 
