LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE 



but in Winter it resorts to farm-buildings, stacks and even 

 houses. We have caught several fine specimens in one 

 of the upstair cupboards of our own homestead, and have 

 often wondered how they managed to get there, and what 

 they found to eat. In a natural state, it feeds upon 

 hazel-nuts, of which it is very fond, acorns, corn, and 

 also insects. 



It breeds with great frequency, several litters of from 

 five to seven young being brought forth during the 

 year, and these commence reproduction on their own 

 account when only a few months old. It is certain that 

 but for the birds of prey, together with Stoats, Weasels, 

 and other animals, this Mouse would be a serious pest, 

 though it does not become a plague to the same extent 

 as the Short-tailed Field Vole, of which more anon. 

 It does not hibernate during Winter, as some of its 

 cousins do ; but at the same time it lays up a store of 

 food to which it can resort when hard weather means 

 hard hunting for man and beast. In the early Spring we 

 frequently discover empty nut shells, the kernels of which 

 have been gnawed quite clean from their snug cradles 

 by this animal. The nut is not cracked open, as might 

 be supposed, but a neat hole is drilled in the side. 

 Curiously enough, the hole is very similar to that made 

 by the Nuthatch, a woodland bird, about which we have 

 something to say in another volume of this series 

 devoted to our bird friends. 



For a nesting site the Wood Mouse chooses a hole 



in the ground ; but it is stated that it will also take 



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