NATURAL HISTORY. 247 



THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 



THE short-tailed field mouse is still more gene- 

 rally diffused than the long-tailed kind, and is found 

 almost every where; in woods, in meadows, and even in 

 gardens. It is remarkable for the thickness of its head, 

 and the shortness of its tail, which is not above an 

 inch long. It forms holes in the earth, where it hoards 

 up corn, nuts, and acorns ; the former of which it pre- 

 fers to every other kind of food. About the month 

 of July, when the corn begins to ripen, they flock to- 

 gether from every quarter, and frequently do great 

 damage, by cutting the stalk in order to come at the 

 ear. In autumn and winter the greater part of them 

 retire to the woods, where they find beech-mast, nuts, 

 and acorns. Some years they appear in such num- 

 bers, that they would destroy every thing were they 

 to subsist long. For want of other food, however, 

 they often eat one another, and are themselves the 

 usual prey of the fox, the wild-cat, the martin, the 

 weasel, and the long -tailed field mouse. 



THE GUINEA PIG. 



THE Guinea pig, though originally a native of the 

 warm climates of Brasil and Guinea, lives, however, 



