3U6 



ANIMALS OP 



young into a vessel of corn, in some time af- 

 ter he found a hundred and twenty mice, all 

 sprung from one original. The early growth 

 of this animal implies also the short duration 

 of its life, which seldom lasts above two or 

 three years. This species is very much dif- 

 fused, being found in almost all parts of the 

 ancient continent, and having been exported 

 to the new. 1 They are animals that, while 

 they fear human society, closely attend it; 

 and, although enemies to man, are never found 

 but near those places where he has fixed his 

 habitation. Numberless ways have been 

 found for destroying them ; and Gesner has 

 minutely described the variety of traps by 

 which they are taken. Our Society for the 

 Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures 

 proposed a reward for the most ingenious 

 contrivance lor that purpose : and I observ- 

 ed almost every candidate passing off de- 

 scriptions as inventions of his own. I thought 

 it was cruel to detect the plagiarism, or frus- 

 trate the humble ambition of those who would 

 be thought the inventors of a mouse-trap. 



To this species, merely to avoid teazing the 

 reader with a minute description of animals 

 very inconsiderable and very nearly alike, 

 I will add that of the LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE, 

 which is larger than the former, of a colour 

 very nearly resembling the Norway rat, and 

 ehiefly found in fields and gardens. They 

 are extremely voracious, and hurtful in gar- 

 dens and young nurseries, where they are 

 killed in great numbers. However, their fe- 

 cundity quickly repairs the destruction. 



Nearly resembling the former, but larger, 

 (for it is six inches long,) is the SHORT-TAILED 

 KIK.I-I) MOUSE ; which, as its name implies, has 

 the tail much shorter than the former, it being 

 not above an inch and a half long, and ending 

 in a small tuft. Its colour is more inclining 

 to that of the domestic mouse, the upper part 

 being blackish, and the under of an ash- 

 colour. This, as well as the former, are re- 

 markable for laying up provision against win- 

 ter; and Mr. Button assures us they some- 

 times have a store of above a bushel at a 

 time. 



We may add also the SHREW MOUSE to this 

 species of minute animals, being about the 



* Lisle's Husbandry, voL ii, p. 391. 



size of the domestic mouse, but differing great- 

 ly from it in t!;e form ot its nose, which is very 

 long and slender. The teeth also are of a 

 very singular form, and twenty-eight in num- 

 ber; whereas the common number in the rat 

 kind is usually not above sixteen. The two 

 upper fore teeth are very sharp, and on each 

 side of them there is a kind of wing or beard, 

 like that of an arrow, scares visible but on a 

 close inspection. The other teeth are placed 

 close together, being very small, and seeming 

 scarce separated; so that Avith respect to 

 this part of its formation, the animal has some 

 resemblance to the viper. However, it is a 

 very harmless little creature, doing scarce 

 any injury. On the contrary, as it lives chief- 

 ly in the fields, and feeds more upon insects 

 than corn, it may be considered rather as a 

 friend than an enemy. It has a strong, dis- 

 agreeable smell, so that the cat, when it is 

 killed, will refuse to eat it. It is said to bring 

 four or five young at a time. 



THE DORMOUSE. 



THESE animals may be distinguished into 

 three kinds; the GREATER DORMOUSE, which 

 Mr. Button calls the LOIR; the MIDDLE, which 

 he calls the LEROT; the LESS, which he deno- 

 minates the MUSCARDIN. They differ from 

 each other in size, the largest being equal to 

 a rat, the least being no bigger than a mouse. 

 They all differ from the rat in having the 

 tail tufted with hair, in the manner of a squir- 

 rel, except that the squirrel's tail is flat, re- 

 sembling a fan ; and theirs round, resembling 

 a brush. The lerot differs from the loir by 

 having two black spots near the eyes; the 

 muscardin differs from both in the whitish 

 colour of its hair on the back. They all three 

 agree in having black sparkling eyes, and the 

 whiskers partly white and partly black. 

 They agree in their being stupefied, like the 

 marmout, during the winter, and in their 

 hoarding up provisions to serve them in case 

 of a temporary revival. 



They inhabit the woods or very thick 

 hedges, forming their nests in the hollow of 

 some tree, or near the bottom of a close shrub, 

 humbly content with continuing at the bot- 

 tom, and never aspiring to sport, among the 



