274- THE MEADOW MOUSE. 



they, however, attack and devour their own spe- 

 cies. It is said that Dogs will eat these Mice with 

 great eagerness; but that Cats, though they often 

 kill them, always reject them as food*. 



The females form, for their young ones, a soft 

 nest, of grass and other materials from the fields, 

 generally in moist meadows. They produce twice 

 in the year, in spring and summer, and have 

 from six to eight young ones at each litter. The 

 affection of these animals for their offspring is 

 scarcely exceeded by any others whatever. Mr. 

 Pennant assures us, that a female Meadow Mouse 

 was seduced into a wire trap, by placing its brood 

 into it; and she was so intent on fostering them, 

 as to seem perfectly regardless of her captivityf. 



The Meadow Mouse is called, in Wales, llygoden 

 gwtta'r maes: in France, campagnol, mulot a court t 

 queue, petit rat des champs, ratte couette: in Italy, 

 campagnoli: in Germany, kleine feldmaus : in Aus- 

 tria, erdzeist : in Holland, veldmuus : in Denmark, 

 maarkmuus, skier-muus : in Sweden, molle : in 

 Russia, pestzoisoaja-mysch. 



* Buffon par Sonnini, xxv. p. 224. 

 t Pennant's British Zoology, i. p. 124. 



OP 



