THE HARVEST MOUSE. 



lieve that the Harvest Mouse was merely a grani- 

 vorous animal. I caught the fly, and made it buzz 

 in my fingers against the wires. The Mouse,, though 

 usually shy and timid, immediately came out of her 

 hiding place., and running to the spot, seized and 

 devoured it. From this time I fed her with insects, 

 whenever I could get them; and she always pre- 

 ferred them to any other kind of food that I offered 

 her. 



When this Mouse was first put into her cage, a 

 piece of fine flannel was folded up into the dark 

 part of it, as a bed, and I put some grass and bran 

 into the large open part. In the course of a few 

 days all the grass was removed; and on examining 

 the cage, I found it very neatly arranged betwixt 

 the folds of the flannel, and rendered more soft by 

 being mixed with the knap of the flannel, which 

 the animal had torn off in considerable quantity 

 for the purpose. The chief part of this opera- 

 tion must have taken place in the night; for al- 

 though the Mouse was generally, awake and active 

 during the day time, yet I never once observed 

 it employed in removing the grass. 



On opening its nest, about the latter end of 

 October, 1804, 1 remarked that there were, amongst 

 the grass and wool at the bottom, about forty grains 

 of maize. These appeared to have been arranged 

 with some care and regularity; and every grain had 

 the corcule, or growing part, eaten out, the lobes 

 only being left. This seemed so much like an 



operation 



