THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD VOLE 



and, though they were both females, I fear the 

 language was most unladylike. Presently they 

 retreated to opposite corners and there washed 

 their faces. Again they came out, and once 

 more danced squeaking round each other ; but 

 the fighting did not last so long this time, and 

 a longer interval of peace succeeded. At last 

 they settled down, and before night were sleep- 

 ing happily together in the same bed. 



Apparently what happens in a wild state is 

 that in the spring time a pair of mice will go 

 off by themselves, make a nest in some snug 

 corner, and from it, as headquarters, begin 

 to tunnel in all directions. As their families 

 grow up the party gets larger and larger, for 

 they are good-natured creatures with those they 

 know, and the old ones do not turn the young 

 out into the world. By the end of the summer, 

 what in the spring had been a solitary couple 

 founding a colony has now become a large 

 and well-populated settlement, of which all the 

 members are related to one another. They 

 know each other and are on the best of good 

 terms, but woe to the stranger from another clan 

 that ventures into their highways and byways, 

 for he will soon be bundled out neck and crop, 

 if he suffers nothing worse at their hands. 



275 



