MICE. 217 



the window curtains ; so that when the gentleman of 

 the house returned home a few minutes after, he found 

 the ladies in consternation, and right glad to have his 

 assistance. He vigorously seized the animal, took out 

 his penknife, cut off its covering, and displayed a large 

 rat to their astonished eyes, and of course to its own 

 destruction. 



MICE. 



THE round, delicate form of the Mouse, and the better 

 expression of its countenance, make.it an object much 

 more worthy of admiration than the rat, of which it is 

 but a diminished representative. It has the same de- 

 structive propensities, assembles in vast numbers, and 

 is equally carnivorous ; but with all these, it is a more 

 tameable and lovable animal. There is a white variety 

 which is often nurtured as a pet. Mr. Darwin says, 

 that with other small Rodents, numbers live together in 

 nearly desert places, as long as there are a few blades 

 of vegetation left ; and that they swarm on the borders 

 of salt lakes, where not a drop of fresh water can be 

 procured. Some of them lay up stores of food, especially 

 those which inhabit northern countries. 



Field mice do an infinity of harm to young plantations, 

 by nibbling off the young shoots; and in order to catch 

 them, pits from eighteen to twenty inches deep are sunk 

 in the soil, which are wider at the bottom than the top, 

 so that they cannot easily get out. One hundred thou- 

 sand were destroyed in this manner in the Forest of 

 Dean, and about the same number in the New Forest 

 They make very beautiful round nests, of curiously 



