THE RATS AND MICE 



1317 



often carried home with corn sheaves, and then spends the winter in the rick where 

 they are deposited. In the latter situations, the harvest mouse remains active 

 throughout the year, but when living in the open fields it constructs a burrow in 

 which to pass the winter months in a state of torpor. The summer nest is a glob- 

 ular structure of grass and leaves suspended among the cornstalks at some distance 

 from the ground; and when ascending or descending the stems to reach this nest, or 

 in search of food, the little creatures are much aided by their prehensile tails. No 

 better description of this nest exists than the one given by White, which, although 

 often quoted, will bear one more repetition. He writes that the structure was " most 

 artificially platted, and composed of the blades of wheat; perfectly round and about 

 the size of a cricket ball, with the aperture so ingeniously closed that there was no 



THE BARBARY MOUSE. 

 (Natural size.) 



discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well filled that it 

 would roll across the table without being discomposed, though it contained eight 

 little mice that \vere naked and blind. ' ' The number in a litter varies from five to 

 eight or nine, and it is probable that there are several broods in the course of a 

 summer. The numbers of the species are, however, kept down by the hosts of pre- 

 daceous birds and small carnivorous Mammals that make it their prey. I/ike the 

 long-tailed field mouse, the present species is partly insectivorous in its diet. Mr. 

 Harting states that he has several times kept harvest mice in captivity, and suc- 

 ceeded in rearing their young to maturity. He describes them as charming little 

 pets, allowing themselves to be handled without making any attempts to bite, and 

 readily taking food from the hand. 



