WILD MICE. 73 



quite ready. But the very night before he went to cut it, 

 the mice stole a large portion of the grain and carried it off 

 to their nests in the neighboring woods. Hunting up these 

 nests he got back from two of them about half a bushel of 

 rye, which was perfectly good. Sometimes they build nests 

 in the russet corn-shocks left standing in the sere October 

 fields', and store up there heaps of food, although there may 

 be no necessity, so firmly fixed in their minds is the idea of 

 preparing for the future. But they eat a great deal, and 

 their stores are none too large to outlast the long, dreary 

 months, when the ground is frozen hard, and the meadows 

 are swept by the wintry winds, or packed under a blanket 

 of snow. 



The English field-mouse, which is very much like our 

 own, has "a sweet tooth," and searches for the nests of the 

 bumblebees in order to get the comb arid honey. 



The Arvicola and Jaculus seem to be the greatest dig- 

 gers, while the Hesperomys prefers a home above-ground, 

 and constructs its dwelling much like the squirrel's. Some- 

 times it takes up its abode in deserted birds'-nests, such as 

 those of the cat -bird, red -winged blackbird, wood- thrush, 

 and red-eyed vireo. A cradle-nest of the last-named bird, 

 which had been thus used by a white -footed mouse, was 

 found toward the end of August, 1875, on the border of a 



