118 



THE MOUSE. 



The mouse is an animal equally mischievous with 

 the rat, though, from its size, not capable of doing 

 so much harm ; fearful by nature, but familiar from 

 necessity, it is constantly making depredations upon 

 the pantry and the safe ; yet it never ventures far from 

 its abode, from an instinctive dread of encountering 

 some foe, as the cat, the hawk, the weasel, the snake, 

 and even the rat itself, are its destroyers. 



Though the .mouse is capable of being very destruc- 

 tive in the house, it is still more so in the barn, where 

 they frequently breed in such immense numbers as ab- 

 solutely to over-run a whole stack of corn. Aristotle 

 gives us an idea of the rapid multiplication of these 

 animals *, by informing us that he put a mouse with 

 young into a vessel of corn ; and, upon examining it 

 some time afterwards, he found a hundred and twenty 

 had sprung from that stock. 



The \ong-t&i\ed field-mouse is another species of this 

 animal ; it attaches itself entirely to nurseries and gar- 

 dens : it is rather larger than the domestic mouse, and 

 in colour resembles the great rat. To this may be 

 added the short-tailed field-mouse, and the shrew-mouse, 

 neither of which differ essentially from those already 

 described ; the former resides wholly in the fields, and 

 feeds upon corn, acorns, and nuts ; the latter dwells 

 chiefly in stables and barns, but is fonder of putrified 

 meat than it is of grain : and to this partiality we may 

 ascribe its foetid smell. 



* The mouse brings forth several times in the year, and its usual num- 

 ber is from six to ten, which in less than a fortnight are able to shift for, 

 and protect themselves. 



