BRITISH MAMMALS 



creature— the smallest of its family— that no effort 

 should be spared by the mammalogist to discover its 

 whereabouts, if at all possible. Candidly, we make the 

 confession that we have rarely found it in the country 

 we have frequented, and enquiries made away from 

 home have not resulted in much satisfactory informa- 

 tion being gathered. Our friend, the late F. G. Aflalo, 

 says that " Hke the Squirrel and Dormouse, it burrows, 

 usually underground or in hay-ricks, sometimes breeding 

 in the latter." It constructs a small nest, which, never- 

 theless, is wonderfully woven together, and, when it is 

 deftly hung among the corn-stalks, it presents an attrac- 

 tive appearance. In this cosy homestead from five to 

 eight young are born, and, although these are bHnd, and 

 at first unHke their well-groomed parents, when they are 

 able to move about as a family party, as pretty a sight as 

 could be wished for is portrayed to view. So, too, when 

 one of the adults is seen cleverly balancing its small, 

 reddish-brown body on an ear of corn. It is so light that 

 the corn-stalk easily bears the animal's weight, without 

 much evidence of the weight affecting the light object 

 upon which it is suspended. As the bright-eyed httle 

 rodent calmly surveys the scene of its operations from 

 such an eminence, it is a study worthy of an artist's 

 brush, or a camera picture. As several litters are pro- 

 duced during the year, the wonder is that this species is 

 not commoner than it is ; but there is reason to believe 

 that it may be often overlooked, and too frequently passed 



by unidentified. 



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