FARMERS' REGISTER— THE MOUSE. 



717 



TI-IT3 MOUSE. 



From Jesse's Gleanings of Natural History. 



An extraordinary instance of the rapid increase 

 of mice, and of the injury they sometimes do, oc- 

 curred a few years ago in the new plantations 

 made byorder of the crown in Dean Forest, Glou- 

 cestershire, and in the New Forest, Hampshire. 

 Soon after the formation of these plantations, a 

 sudden and rapid increase of mice took place in 

 them, which threatened destruction to the whole 

 of the young plants. Vast numbers of these were 

 killed, — the mice having; eaten through the roots 

 of tive-years' old oaks and chestnuts, generally 

 just below the surface of the ground. Hollies also, 

 which were five and six feet high, were barked 

 round the bottom ; and in some instances the mice 

 had crawled up the tree, and were seen feeding on 

 the bark of the upper branches. In the reports 

 made to government on the subject, it appeared 

 that the roots had been eaten through wlierever 

 they obstructed the runs of the mice, but that the 

 bark of the trees con.slituted their food. This was 

 ascertained by confining a numlier of the mice in 

 cages, and supplying them with the fresh roots 

 and bark of trees, when it was found that they 

 fed greedily on the latter, and left the roots un- 

 touched. Various plans were devised for their de- 

 struction : traps were set, poison laid, and cats 

 turned out, but nothing appeared to lessen their 

 number. It was at last suggested, that if holes 

 were dug, into which the mice might be enticed, 

 or fall, their destruction might be effected. Holes 

 therefore were made, about twenty yards assun- 

 der, in some of tlie Dean Forest plantations, be- 

 ing aliout twelve in each acre of ground. These 

 holes were from eighteen to twenty inches in dejith, 

 and two feet one way by one and a half the other; 

 and they were much wider at the bottom than the 

 top, being excavated or hollowed under, so that 

 the animal, when once in, coidd not easily get out 

 again. In these holes, at least 30,000 mice were 

 caught in the course of three or four months, that 

 number having been counted out, and paid for by 

 the proper officers of the forest. It was, however, 

 calculated, that a much greater number of mice 

 than these were taken out of the. holes, after being 

 caught, by stoats, weasels, kites, hawks, and owls, 

 and also by crows, magpies, jays, &c. The cats 

 also which had been turned out resorted to these 

 holes to feed upon the mice; and in one instance, 

 a dog was seen greedily eating them. In another, 

 an owl had so gorged himself, that he was secured 

 by one of the keepers. As the mice increased in 

 number, so did the birds of prey, of which at last 

 there werean incredible number. In addition to the 

 quantity above-mentioned, a great many mice 

 were destroyed in traps, by poison, and by animals 

 and birds of prey : so that in Dean Forest alone, 

 the number of those which were killed in various 

 ways could not be calculated at much less than one 

 hundred thousand. In the New Forest, from the 

 weekly reports of the deputy surveyor of the fo- 

 rest, about the same number were destroyed, al- 

 lowing the same calculation for those eaten by 

 vermin, &c. : in addition to which, it should be 

 mentioned that these mice were found to eat each 

 other when their food fell short in winter. BuiTon 

 mentions this circumstance, and adds, that tliey 

 not only devour the smaller of their own species, 

 but also another description of mice, which he calls 

 Campagnols. Putting these circumstances to- 



gether, the total destruction of mice in the two fo- 

 rests in question would |)!-obaMy amount to more 

 than two hundreil thousand. This calculation is 

 made from olfiiial weekly returns and other cor- 

 respdudcnce, and will show the enormous increase 

 of these animals in a few months, as their depre- 

 dations and destruction were equally sudden. 



There were two descri|)tions of these mice. One 

 of them, called bv BulTon Mulof, is our long tailed 

 field-mouse*. The other was a short tailed mouse, 

 and seems to have been the ' Compagnol ' of Buf 

 fon, from the Italian ' Compagnolo,' or tiie ' Mulot 

 a courte queue.' There were about fifty of these 

 latter taken to one of the former. The long-tailed 

 mice had all white breasts, and the tail was about 

 the same length as the body. One of them, caught 

 in Haywood Enclosure, Dean Forest, was nearly 

 as laroe as a weasel, and tlie back of its neck was 

 f eautifully mottled. These latter mice were chief- 

 ly cautiht on the wet greens in the forest, and the 

 short-tailed both on wet as well as dry ground. 



The short-tailed mouse has a nmch thicker head_ 

 than the long-tailed one, and its ears are very' 

 siiort, and almost hid in the hair. Its body is about 

 three inches long, and the tail one inch. The up- 

 per part of the body is of a reddish brown, and the 

 belly a deep ash color. Tiieir runs and nests are 

 uniier the surface of the ground. They produce 

 seven and eight, and in some instances nine young 

 at a time. 



Amongst the birds of prey which made their 

 appearance in Dean Foiest during the time the 

 n)ice were in the greatest numl)ers, was a small 

 white owl. None of these liirds had previously 

 been observed in the forest, but in the space of a 

 few months several were seen, and were considered 

 to be the most destructive of any of the winged 

 enemies of the mice. It was slated in a letter 

 from a gentleman residing in the forest, that under 

 the roost of one of these owls, in an enclosure called 

 Birchwood, there were at least fifiy mice, which 

 had passed through the owlrvhole. This assertion 

 was repealed in some subsequent correspondence, 

 though it is prolialiie that the pellets which owls 

 cast up were mistaken for mice. These ovls are 

 described as smaller than the brown owl, and asi 

 having a kind of ruff round the head. 



Specimens of the mice taken in Dean and the 

 New Forest were sent to Sir Joseph Banks, with 

 an account of their depredations. In his answer 

 he says, ' I have received a liberal supply of the 

 mischievous vermin. The short-tailed field-mouse 

 of Pennant and the field-mouse of the same author 

 are, I believe, the- same as those sent; but I am 

 not quite certain, because Pennant describes his 

 field-mouse as having a tail longer than its body, 

 and the breast of an ochre color. But those that I 

 received have their tails of the same length as the 

 body — the brcr.st white. I incline to conclude that 

 they are young animals, and that the old ones will 

 answer Pennant's description. 



' I trust that it will be ascertained which of the 

 animals is the enemy to planting that is complained 

 of The proportionate quantities of each will be 

 an oltject also of inquiry. 



' I shall be glad to receive an accountoftlie mis- 

 chief the mice have done. I have not in any w ork 

 met with an account of mice having been accused 

 of barking trees, which makes the fact a valuable 



+ Lc Rat a la grande queue: Mus cauda longissima. 



