THE FIELD-MOUSE 



159 



rally a couple of bolt-holes separated from one 

 another by an angle of nearly ninety degrees. 



The mouse that always trusts to one poor hole 

 Can never be a mouse of any soul. 



(Pope, The Wife of Bath.) 



The field-mouse is prolific, the female pro- 



PiG. 49. — Diagram of burrow of jGield-mouse. 



ducing several litters throughout the greater 

 part of the year. The mother carries the young- 

 born litter about for two or three weeks, nipping 

 the skin of her offspring at the side, half- 

 way between the fore and hind legs. The 

 average number of young born at one time 

 is probably somewhere about five, though 

 litters of nine are by no means unknown. All 

 predaceous animals naturally eat field-mice, 

 and they are the favourite food — at any rate, 

 in some localities — of owls. 



