MAMMALS 



were observed by Mr. E. J. Rope in a barn 

 at Little Glemham. 



27. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field 



Mouse. Mus sylvaticus, Linn> 

 Very abundant everywhere, frequenting 

 woods, hedge banks, fields and gardens. I 

 have seen it among the tall marram grass on 

 the sea beach between Dunwich and Sizewell. 

 It sometimes enters houses, and especially 

 dairies, from its fondness for milk ; but does 

 not permanently take up its abode there. 

 Owing to its partiality for newly sown peas, 

 beans, and corn of all kinds, it is not a 

 favourite with farmers and gardeners. 



28. Yellow-necked Mouse. Mus flavicollisy 



Melchior. 

 In March 1903 a fine adult female of this 

 large and handsome variety of Mus sylvaticus 

 was captured at Tostock Rectory, near Bury 

 St. Edmunds, by the Rev. J. G. Tuck. It 

 was trapped inside the house, having first be- 

 trayed its presence by biting the door mat in 

 the hall. Mr. Tuck was kind enough to 

 forward it to the writer, who afterwards sent 

 it on to Mr. Southwell of Norwich. It was 

 ultimately examined by Mr. Oldfield Thomas 

 of the British Museum, who pronounced it 

 to be a clearly marked example of the large 

 form of Mus sylvaticus, i.e. Mus sylvaticus 

 wintoni, Barrett-Hamilton. Previous to this 

 occurrence Mr. Barrett-Hamilton had received 

 specimens from Suffolk, but possesses no 

 record of the exact locality. In the Zoologist 

 for April 1903 will be found an interesting 

 article by Mr. Southwell on this large race or 

 subspecies of M. sylvaticus. Mr. Tuck in- 

 formed the writer that he believed a second 

 specimen had been caught in another house 

 in his parish. Besides its superior size and 

 more brilliant colouring, this animal differs 

 from a typical specimen of the long-tailed 

 field mouse, in the shape and extent of the 

 breast spot or collar. In the latter this is a 

 mere spot or streak of fawn, rather variable 

 in size and shape, on the silvery white fur of 

 the under parts ; in the former it is developed 

 into a well marked band across the breast ; 

 the middle portion of this band being pro- 

 duced so as to form a streak, running back- 

 wards for a short distance towards the tail, 

 and also projecting slightly forwards, thus 

 producing a somewhat cross-like figure. Mr. 

 Southwell informs me that a second female 

 example from Tostock was sent him by Mr. 

 Tuck on 18 April 1903. On 18 June Mr, 

 Tuck sent two more specimens, which had 

 been caught by his cat, to the Norwich 

 Museum. 



29. Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. 



This beautiful little animal is not uncom- 

 mon in Suffolk, though perhaps nowhere par- 

 ticularly abundant. Owing to its diminutive 

 size, as well as to a want of interest in matters 

 of natural history among those most likely to 

 come in contact with it, its presence is apt to 

 be overlooked ; and it is probably more gene- 

 rally distributed than is commonly supposed. 

 The harvest mouse is not included in the 

 Messrs. Pagcts' Sietch of the Natural History 

 of Yarmouth, published in 1834, but in more 

 recent years has been found to inhabit some 

 parts of the Yarmouth district. Mr. W. M. 

 Crowfoot has found its nest among the coarse 

 herbage growing on the Norfolk bank of the 

 Waveney at Gillingham, and also in the 

 marram-grass on the beach at Kessingland, 

 almost within reach of the sea-spray.' At 

 Haddiscoe in Norfolk, just over the Suffolk 

 boundary, Mr. Last Farman reports finding 

 these mice in quantity in the bottom of barley- 

 stacks.' The writer has often met with this 

 species at Leiston, and also at Blaxhall, where 

 it is certainly far from uncommon, though, as 

 elsewhere, uncertain and erratic in its appear- 

 ance. Harvest mice have also been observed 

 at Little Glemham, and at Gedgrave near 

 Orford. About Bury St. Edmunds Mr. 

 Travis, taxidermist of that town, considers 

 them common, and at Tostock, between Bury 

 and Stowmarket, they arc stated by Mr. 

 W. H. Tuck to be not uncommon. At 

 Market Weston near Thetford the Rev. 

 E. T. Daubeny has seen two nests, and in 

 the neighbourhood of Needham Market Mr. 

 H. Lingwood has, some thirty years ago, 

 many times come across both the mice and 

 their nests. Mr. E. C. Moor of Great Beal- 

 ings, in a communication to the Zoologist for 

 1884, p. 190, writes as follows : ' During the 

 autumn of 1883, especially harvest time, 

 several nests of the harvest mouse, Mus mes- 

 sorius, were taken by myself, mostly from 

 barley-fields, being placed upon the laid bar- 

 ley. Almost all contained young ones, num- 

 bering from six to eight, and it was surprising 

 to see how eight fair-sized mice could possibly 

 live in a nest hardly as large as an orange.' 

 In a letter to the writer dated i January 1 903, 

 Mr. Moor refers to this little animal as being 

 rather common at Bealings, and generally 

 observed when threshing in the winter. Har- 

 vest mice are indeed seldom seen except 

 during the threshing of corn stacks, when 



• ' Mammalia and Reptilia of Norfolk,' T. South- 

 well, Zool. 1871, p. 2756. 



* 'The Mammalia of Great Yarmouth,' A. Pat- 

 terson, Zool. 1898, p. 305. 



229 



