THE FIELD MOUSE. 265 



It is in the autumn that these Mice chiefly abound. 

 In spring they are not so numerous; for when- 

 ever, in the winter, their provisions run short, the 

 strong animals always attack and devour the weak 

 ones. They are likewise destroyed, in great num- 

 bers, at all times of the year that they appear 

 abroad, by hawks, owls, Foxes, and Weesels. 



Asa proof that, on the least scarcity of provi- 

 sions, they will devour their own species, M. de 

 BufFon informs us, that he once put a dozen Field 

 Mice into a cage, and accustoined them to be regu- 

 larly fed every morning at eight o'clock : but neg- 

 lecting them one morning for about a quarter of 

 an hour, one of them had been eaten by the others. 

 Next day they devoured another; and in the course 

 of a few days only one was left, all the rest having 

 been killed, and in part eaten : even the one that 

 survived had his legs and tail much mutilated*. 



The increase of these animals is, if possible, more 

 rapid than that of Rats. The females bring forth 

 three or four times in the year; and seldom have 

 fewer, though sometimes many more, than nine or 

 ten young ones at a litter. A peasant, on the 

 estate of M. de BufFon, once took twenty young 

 ones out of a single nest. The females make a 

 bed for their offspring, either in a tuft of grass, or 



* Buffon par Sonnini, xxv. p. 210. 



immediately 



