200 



THE NATURE BOOK 



the other, some up-to-date vims from 

 Berhn. 



Eventually I caught two of the Meadow- 

 Mice in my hands. One. quite a young 



A T'lI'lL-M. MLMKIW MOLShS SURFACE RUN 

 OMKNED WITH THE FINGERS AND VIEWED 

 FROM ABOVE. 

 The run started from the hedSerow and went twenty 

 yards into the field. Several culs-de-sac can be seen. 



one, I sc( ured while he was snaking in the 

 grass farther from home than he should 

 have been. Tlie other I judge to ha\r 

 been the head of the clan. His caj^jturc 

 was less orthodo.x. I had been standing 

 quietly over the stump and suddenly 

 caught sight of his eyes. Something had 



occurred to prevent his reaching either 

 of the shafts. He had, therefore, flattened 

 himself against the wood about si.x inches 

 from safety, and was staring backwards 

 over the top of his head, just as a Water 

 Rat does when it hopes you ha\'e not seen 

 it, but at the same time wishes to keep> 

 an eye on you. He harmonised so neatl}' 

 with his surroundings that it was mere 

 chance which enabled me to sight him. As 

 I caught him he bit me rather severely, and 

 he continued spiteful until I released him. 



The growth of the hay put a stop to my 

 direct observations of these mice, but I 

 had had time to determine several of their 

 characteristic attitudes, which are repro- 

 duced in the illustrations in this and the 

 previous article. As soon as the hay \\'as 

 cut I had the curiosity to investigate their 

 runs more closely. None of these could 

 fairl}' be termed subterranean, though 

 some had been deepened by wear slightly 

 below ground level. In several instances 

 there were small blind sidings from the 

 main track, reminding one of the surface 

 runs of the Mole, and perhaps similarly 

 constructed with a view to wayside re- 

 freshment. 



1 have f( 

 of Meadow 

 itself, there 



und 

 Mice 

 is a 



that, where a colony 

 has fairly established 

 tendency for the runs 

 to be slightly deeper and to present an 

 arched roof above ground level, which 

 consists of soil lightly held together by 

 root fibres from the adjoining grass. 

 Such runs can be traced by the simple ex- 

 pedient of running two fingers along them, 

 and their characteristic appearance can 

 be seen in the accompanying illustration. 



It would be hardly reasonable to com- 

 ]xire such normal conditions as the 

 foregoing with the abnormal conditions 

 prevalent during a Mouse plague, but I 

 think that, slight as my observations 

 have been, they may help us to the con- 

 clusion that, given a quick-breeding mouse 

 of this kind, with a simple, indiscriminate 

 taste in vegetable food, a strong incli- 

 nation to feed under cover, a corres])ond- 

 ing disinclination to roam afield, and a 

 modicum of \o\v cunning, it needs little 

 more than an unusually rich combination 

 of food and cover to make him multiply 

 exceedingly, and spread, slowly at first, 

 but with increasing speed as his numbers 

 increase, from exhausted districts to those 



