A MINIATURE BRITISH FAUNA 107 



the dormouse, is locally distributed. It lives in the 

 field in summer, and in winter in stacks and ricks. 

 Its liking for insects is great, and when these can be 

 obtained in quantity it probably feeds on little else. 

 Grain is its almost exclusive food in winter. If in 

 summer it has by chance been carried into barns 

 with the ricks, it does not hibernate. Some have 

 asserted that individuals will make underground 

 passages and burrows out-of-doors, and hibernate in 

 these. In the breeding season the soft round nest 

 contains from four to nine young ones, which do not, 

 however, long occupy it, for a second and even a 

 third litter is often produced the same year. The 

 young never stray far from the nest, but themselves 

 construct a second one not far from the parent abode. 

 This is never raised above the ground, and is simply 

 for protection and shelter. The harvest-mouse is 

 more slender than its congeners. The eyes are dark 

 and bright, but not prominent; the short ears are 

 rounded, the fur rufus, and the under parts white. 

 The long- tailed field-mouse, often called the wood- 

 mouse, is much more common than either of the 

 species mentioned above. Its distribution is wide 

 and general. It is found in woods, where it 

 burrows under the running roots of beeches and 

 other trees. In this way it does considerable damage, 

 for nothing stays its progress. In spring it keeps 

 more to the fields and meadows, dry hedge-banks 



