A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



RODENTIA 



22. Squirrel. Sciurtis leucourus, Kerr. 



Bell — Sciurus vulgaris. 

 The squirrel is exceedingly common in this 

 wooded county. In fact, in consequence of 

 the dry warm springs of the last few years, 

 more young ones have been reared than usual, 

 and they have increased to the extent of be- 

 coming a nuisance by eating the young fir 

 trees, and have had to be kept under at 

 Harleston Firs and probably other places. 

 The only natural enemies they have to con- 

 tend with are the owls, which not only take 

 the young ones from the dreys, but kill and 

 eat the old ones. I have an entire skull of a 

 young one from an owl's pellet, and in other 

 pellets I have come across quantities of the 

 fur. In one instance Mr. C. E. Wright 

 found the remains of an adult squirrel close to 

 an owl's nest mutilated in a similar way to 

 that in which they treat young rabbits, that 

 is, with the flesh torn off the bones, which are 

 usually left entire.* It is curious that there 

 is no mention of the squirrel by Morton. 



23. Dormouse. Muscardinus avellanarius, 



Linn. 



Bell — Myoxus avellanarius. 

 The dormouse is another of those animals 

 which with us are found most frequently in 

 those woodlands which have survived from 

 ancient forests. In Great Oakley Wood 

 scores of the summer nests may be seen in the 

 thickets. In Yardley Chase also I found one. 

 These nests are often built under an old birds' 

 nest, and Mr. C. E. Wright tells me of a 

 remarkable one built on the platform of an old 

 ring-doves' nest. In these nests the young 

 are born and make their summer quarters ; in 

 winter they hibernate in nests of moss beneath 

 the surface of the ground. 



24. Brown Rat. Mus decumanus, Pallas. 



This species is as common in Northampton- 

 shire as elsewhere. I have found tails and 

 mangled remains of young rats beneath rooks' 

 nests. 



25. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Linn. 



I can obtain two records of the old English 

 rat. Mr. C. E. Wright informs me that 

 some were killed in a granary at Kettering in 

 1 88 1. He has also seen the skin of one 

 killed by Mr. W. Freeman at Denver, near 

 Thrapston, in May, 1898. 



1 A rabbit eaten by a fox is generally devoured 

 skin and bones together, and one eaten by a cat 

 has the skin turned inside out. 



26. House Mouse. Mus muscu/us, Linn. 



This mouse we have ever with us, and its 

 existence is too evident to need further com- 

 ment. 



27. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field 



Mouse. Mus sylvaticusy Linn. 



The long-tailed field mouse, or wood mouse, 

 is very plentiful in the county. Owls con- 

 sume a great many of them. 



28. Yellow-necked Mouse. Mus Jlavicol/ls, 



Melchior. 

 This mouse differs from the last in its 

 greater size, and in having a broad band of 

 yellow on its breast instead of a spot only of 

 that colour. The only recorded specimen for 

 this county came from Lilford, and its skin is 

 now in the British Museum.^ 



29. Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. 



This pretty little animal would seem to be 

 now extinct in the county, the machinery 

 used nowadays for cutting the corn leaving 

 very little shelter for it. The late Lord Lil- 

 ford once told me that he remembered the 

 characteristic nests about thirty years ago in 

 the neighbourhood of Lilford ; and Mr. W. 

 Tomalin remembers to have seen the nests 

 forty years ago on wheat stalks in the county. 



30. Water Vole. Microtus amphihius, Linn. 



Bell — Arvuola amphibius. 

 The water vole, so often mistaken for the 

 brown rat, is plentiful along our streams, and 

 needs no further comment. 



31. Field Vole. Microtus agrestis, Linn. 



Bell — Jrt'ico/a agreilis. 

 The field vole, or short-tailed field mouse, 

 is abundant in all parts of the county, and I 

 have frequently trapped it. According to 

 Morton it was first described in this country 

 by Ray. He says (p. 443) : ' The Mus 

 agrestis capite grandi brachiuros, Raij. Synop. 

 Quadrup., p. 218. The Short-tailed Mouse 

 with a great Head. The Head indeed is re- 

 markably large, as the Tail is Short. Mr. 

 Ray, of all the Zoologists, is the First that has 

 given us a Description of this Creature. 'Tis 

 found with us in Oxendon Home-Closes, and 

 in the Grounds at Kelmarsh, generally in the 

 richer Sort of Pastures ; but it is not common. 

 It nests under Ground, and is seldom or never 

 found in Houses.' 



" M. de Winton, Zoologist, Dec. 1894. 



132 



