38 The Natural History 



about the swallows roosting on the aits of the Thames : 

 nor can I hear any more about those birds which I 

 suspected were merulce. torquaice. 



As to the small mice, I have farther to remark, 

 that though they hang their nests for breeding up amidst 

 the straws of the standing corn, above the ground ; 

 yet I find that, in the winter they burrow deep in the 

 earth, and make warm beds of grass : but their grand 

 rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, into which they 

 are carried at harvest. A neighbour housed an oat-rick 

 lately, under the thatch of which were assembled near 

 an hundred, most of which were taken ; and some I 

 saw. I measured them ; and found that, from nose 

 to tail, they were just two inches and a quarter, 

 and their tails just two inches long. Two of them, 

 in a scale, weighed down just one copper halfpenny, 

 which is about the third of an ounce avoirdupois : so 

 that I suppose they are the smallest quadrupeds in 

 this island. A full-grown mits fnedius domesticus weighs, 

 I find, one ounce, lumping weight, which is more than 

 six times as much as the mouse above ; and measures 

 from nose to rump four inches and a quarter, and the 

 same in its tail. 



We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this 

 month. My thermometer was one day fourteen degrees 

 and a half below the freezing point, within doors. The 

 tender evergreens were injured pretty much. It was very 

 providential that the air was still, and the ground well 

 covered with snow, else vegetation in general must have 

 suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that 

 some days were more severe than any since the year 

 1739-40. 



I am, etc., etc. 



