THE LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE 



53 



naked, but careful examination will show- 

 that it is not so. The outer portion, 

 which is purplish and opaque, is thickly 

 covered with short silky fur, the inner 

 portion, which is pink and transparent, is 

 almost hairless. The ear is situated closer 

 to the eye than is the case with the 

 House Mouse, and this, coupled with a 

 pronounced arching of the nose, gives 

 him a resolute, almost fierce, expres- 

 sion. I am inclined to think that 

 Field Mice, and other small animals, 

 hear a somewhat different range of sounds 

 to human beings. A shrill squeak with 

 the lips will mightily startle a mouse, 

 while a dull, heavy sound, of far 

 greater volume to our ears, will hardly 

 interest him. Xo doubt a quick ear for 

 squeaks and rustlings has proved profit- 

 able to the race. The Field Mouse has 

 an excellent control over his ears, and 

 can prick and depress them at will ; 

 moreover, as might be expected from 

 their size, they are extremely sensitive. 

 Before a human being has fairly grasped 

 the fact that a sound has occurred, a 

 Field Mouse will be off and under cover. 



A glance at a Field ^Mouse's limbs 

 stamps him at once as an athlete, and a 

 closer examination shows that both hands 

 and feet are excellently adapted for 

 grasping as well as movement. His feet 

 have the usual eleven pads, one at each 

 toe tip, one between the bases of each 

 toe, and two farther back. Each toe 

 has, in addition, six or seven well-marked 

 furrows across it with corresjionding 

 ridges. It is probable that these furrows 

 and ridges are largely concerned with 

 the sense of touch, but they must cer- 

 tainly help him to a secure foothold. 

 Pads and furrows appear also on his 

 hands, though the fact that his thumb 

 is rudimentary naturally decreases their 

 number. The tendons of his toes and 

 fingers are extraordinarily elastic, and, 

 as a result of this, every joint on his 

 hands and feet is in the popular sense 

 " double " — even " treble " sometimes, for 

 some of ^ his finger and toe joints admit 

 of a considerable bend sideways. Each 

 finger and toe is armed with a sharp 

 claw, and in a battle with his own kind 

 these claws are used offensivelv. 



It is somewhat remarkable that, for 

 all his martial air, the Field Mouse is 



a peaceful little beast. A long list of 

 Mouse fights furnishes me with only one 

 record of an encounter between two of 

 his species — and these were captives. 



At large and undismayed, the Field 

 Mouse is worth watching. Sometimes one 

 meets him casually, but from such meet- 

 ings little can be learnt. 



Mouse sights man first, and treats him 

 as a danger. 



Yet this is not invariable. Mouse 

 sometimes is engrossed in his own busi- 

 ness — his toilet, for example ; and some- 

 times he is half-way up a hedge. He is 

 not so much a climber as a balancer. 

 For choice he runs on gently-sloping 

 branches, his gi'ip clenched tight, his tail 

 stretched taut behind him. He eats 

 most buds and berries in the hedgerow, 

 and it is a pretty sight to watch him 

 stretch on end to reach a dangling fruit. 

 Here his roughed palms and soles must 

 serve him well. There are good records 

 of his amassing a store of food in some old 

 bird's nest (half a pint of hips and haws, 

 says one observer, reckoning by the un- 

 eaten husks), and sleeping in the midst of it. 



Most small beasts clamber on occasion. 



IM 



. ; 



LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 



1. Showing position of ears when frishtened. 



2. ShowinM normal position of ears. 



I have a note of a Shrew Mouse in a 

 bird's nest some five feet from the ground, 



