RODENTS 



39 « 



late as the first crusade, and in Poland it survived to a much later date. Some 

 of its nearest relatives are the much smaller half-wild white park-cattle of Britain, 

 which are descended from early domesticated animals and not in a direct line from 

 the wild race. Of these the best-known breed is the celebrated herd of Chilling- 

 ham which has existed for some seven hundred years, the park having probably 

 been enclosed in the thirteenth century. These cattle are small with rather rough, 

 curly hair and short horns growing in an upward direction ; the inside of the ears 

 and the part surrounding the muzzle is red, though it seems that two hundred 

 years ago they had black ears, and the red-eared animals have been produced by 

 breeding. Unlike park-cattle, many other domesticated cattle have greatly altered 

 in nature and appearance. 



Since it is unknown beyond 55° N. latitude, the wild boar 

 ' cannot be included among the fauna of northern Europe ; and the same 

 is the case with the rabbit, which, as already stated, may have been introduced into 

 central Europe. The brown hare ranges, however, as far north as southern Sweden 

 and the White Sea ; beyond which it is represented by the nearly allied mountain- 

 hare (Lepus timiclus). This species, which measmes about 20 inches in length, 

 has shorter ears than the brown hare, so that if bent forward they do not reach 

 the tip of the nose. It inhabits the Pyrenees, Alps, and Caucasus, and ranges from 

 Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia over the greater part of northern Europe and 

 northern Asia as far as Japan, while it is represented by a closely allied type in 

 Arctic America. Many local races are now recognised. In Ireland and southern 

 Sweden this hare retains its brownish grey summer coat during the winter ; in 

 other countries the coat becomes entirely white in winter, with the exception of 

 the black tips of the ears. In habits the mountain-hare greatly resembles the 

 brown species. Generally it makes its dwelling between rocks or stones ; in 

 winter it feeds on mosses and pine-seeds; in summer it retires up the mountains, 

 where it brings forth, apparently but once a year, from four to six young. 



The small rodents known as picas or calling hares are distant 

 relatives of the hare. One of them, the Siberian pica (Lagomys, or 

 Ochotona alpina), ranges from Asia into north-eastern Europe. The European 

 squirrel ranges as far north as there are trees, in Lapland for instance, as does the 

 Siberian flying-squirrel, although its principal habitat (like that of the Siberian 

 ground-squirrel which extends as far west as the Dwina) is northern Asia. The 

 common dormouse is the only member of its kind living in Scandinavia, the squirrel- 

 tailed dormouse extending no farther than East Prussia, and the garden-dormouse 

 only to the Russian Baltic provinces. As regards rats and mice, the hamster ceases 

 to exist from Lat. 60° northwards in Russia, and is absent from Prussia and Scandi- 

 navia. The water-rat, however, is found up to the North Cape and the White Sea, 

 while the field-mouse, which in northern Russia, Finland, and Scandinavia ranges up to 

 66° N. latitude, is unknown beyond. The red-backed field-mouse, on the other hand, is 

 absent only from Iceland and the Arctic countries : and northern Europe, as well as 

 Siberia, possess in the northern field-mouse (Microtus ratticeps) a representative of 

 the group unknown in central Europe. Closely akin to the voles are the lemmings 

 (Lent mm), one of which inhabits the north of Europe and is also spread over Siberia. 

 Lemmings turn white in winter, and it, is remarkable that, with the assumption of 



