102 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



elegance, is akin to its cousin last mentioned. I do not meet 

 with the first-named very often, and I like best to discover it 

 with a family party among the cornfields as the harvesters are 

 busy cutting the ripened crops. Bright-eyed, keen-eared, 

 richly ornamented in a coat of yellowish-brown above and white 

 beneath, the Harvest Mouse builds its globular nest among the 

 corn. On finding the nest one can usually tell at sight whether 

 it is tenanted by the parent, as, when the female leaves her abode, 



PIG. 42. HARVEST MOUSE. 



she takes the precaution of sealing up the entrance hole until 

 her return. Thus the young are protected from the ravages of 

 any predacious creatures of the cornfield during the mother's 

 absence foraging for food. Although the tail is only partly 

 prehensile, I have noted many times that when climbing a corn- 

 stalk this species depends upon its caudal appendage for some 

 amount of support, and, when thus seen, it is a pleasant little 

 country episode not readily forgotten. 



I have written of the Long-tailed Field Mouse in my notes 

 concerning the wild life around house and garden, and, although 

 I must confess that the Brown Rat is not one of my favourite 

 mammals, its sleek coat, amazing powers of locomotion, and 



