46 HARVEST MOUSE. 



above the ground, yet I find that, in the winter, 

 they burrow deep in the earth, and make warm 



certainly have seized it, had the space betwixt the wires 

 been sufficiently wide to have admitted her teeth or paws 

 to reach it I was surprised at this occurrence, as I had 

 been led to believe that the harvest mouse was merely 

 a granivorous animal. I caught the fly, and made it buzz in 

 my fingers against the wires. The mouse, though usually 

 shy and timid, immediately came out of her hiding-place, 

 and, running to the spot, seized and devoured it. From 

 this time I fed her with insects whenever I could get 

 them ; and she always preferred them to every other kind 

 of food that I offered her. When this mouse was first 

 put into her cage, a piece of fine flannel was folded up into 

 the dark part of it as a bed, and I put some grass and 

 bran into the large open part. In the course of a few days 

 all the grass was removed ; and, on examining the cage, I 

 found it very neatly arranged between the folds of the 

 flannel, and rendered more soft by being mixed with the 

 nap of the flannel, which the animal had torn off in con- 

 siderable quantity for the purpose. The chief part of this 

 operation must have taken place in the night ; for although 

 the mouse was generally awake and active during the day- 

 time, yet I never once observed it employed in removing 

 the grass. On opening its nest about the latter end of 

 October, 1804, I remarked that there were among the grass 

 and wool at the bottom about forty grains of maize. These 

 appeared to have been arranged with some care and regu- 

 larity, and every grain had the corcule, or growing part, 

 eaten out, the lobes only being left. This seemed so much 

 like an operation induced by the instinctive propensity that 

 some quadrupeds are endowed with for storing up food for 

 support during the winter months, that I soon afterwards 

 put into the cage about a hundred additional grains of 

 maize. These were all in a short time carried away, and 

 on a second examination I found them stored up in the 

 manner of the former. But though the animal was well 

 supplied with other food, and particularly with bread, 

 which it seemed very fond of; and although it continued 

 perfectly active through the whole winter, on examining its 

 nest a third time, about the end of November, I observed that 

 the food in its repository was all consumed except about half 

 a dozen grains." YT. J. 



