THE NATURE BOOK 



people, is that the first sight of these 

 creatures at large is disappointing. One's 

 fancy had conceived them bigger. Bad 

 drawing in the natural history- illustrations 



THE RED TYPE OF LONG-TAILED FIELD 

 MOUSE. 



is largely responsible for this disappoint- 

 ment, and, to some extent, over-stufhng 

 in the museums. 



Taxidermy has undoubtedly improved 

 in recent years. There are certain sub- 

 jects, however, notably mice and such 

 small deer, which are, and always will 

 be, beyond the taxidermist's art. Nor 

 do I consider taxidermy at its best of 

 much real value. A series of photo- 

 graphs and skins will provide most people 

 with a better, because truer, conception 

 of the living animal. 



Apart from their nocturnal habits and 

 small dimensions, the difficulty of study- 

 ing the hfe-history of British animals is 

 increased by the fact that their breeding 

 quarters are, with few exceptions, com- 

 pletely hidden. 



The Squirrel, Dormouse, and Harvest 

 Mouse alone among our land animals 

 construct their nests above groxmd level. 

 The Marten may build (not adapt) a 

 lofty nest for breeding (I know no record 

 of it), but with this one possible, and 

 three certain exceptions, no land animals' 

 nest in this country is normally so situated 

 that one can observe it through a tele- 



scope. Nor are animals' nests, when 

 discovered, of the same convenient 

 shape and obvious construction as 

 those of most birds. They are spherical 

 — ^not hemis})herical ; and, even in the 

 case of the Harvest Mouse, there is small 

 cNidence of the material being inter- 

 woven designedly. Animal architecture 

 is of a primitive kind. The animal collects 

 a mass of material, dives into the middle 

 of it, and by biting here and pulling there, 

 and continually turning over and over, 

 fashions a sphere around itself. All kinds 

 of material are utilised : leaves, grasses, 

 moss, wool, and such like ; and one can 

 usually distinguish the soft inner lining 

 of the nest from its more substantial 

 shell. I fancy that most Mice construct 

 this lining by nibbling and splitting por- 

 tions of the outer wall, but I have not 

 been able to satisfy myself of this. 



Each time the animal leaves its nest 

 it makes a fresh exit, which closes by its 

 own elasticity. This serves a double 

 purpose where the young are concerned : 

 it renders them invisible from without, 

 and it keej:)s them warm by trapping 

 some of their mother's heat. The diffi- 

 culty of rearing a foundling hairless 

 Mouse lies not so much in feeding it 

 continually as in warming it continually. 



Having discovered an animal's nest, 

 one's natural impulse is to examine its 

 contents. This impulse must be checked. 

 However gently you disclose the babies, 

 however gingerly you handle them, how- 

 ever neatly you replace them, the mother 

 scents intrusion. She takes the first clear 

 chance of moving. I have had this 

 baffling experience with Hedgehogs, Moles, 

 Shrew Mice, Dormice, and Meadow Mice, 

 In the last case I witnessed the move. 

 The youngsters were nipped by the scruff 

 of the neck and dragged off one by one. 

 This, I believe, is the usual method of 

 transport, the choice between carrying 

 and dragging being only limited by the 

 size of the babies. There are records of it 

 in connection with nearly all our animals, 

 which are corroborated by the behaviour 

 of one of my Field Mice in captivity — a 

 shy, wild thing, who produced her litter 

 within a few hours of capture. I took 

 the young from her (there were five in 

 all) very shf)rtl\- after their birth, and 

 handed them back singly. She took each 



