194 A COUNTRY READER. 



plantations, gardens, and fields. It is very 

 destructive. 



The harvest mouse builds a beautiful spherical 

 nest with blades of grass and corn, and suspends 

 it amidst the living corn plants. 



It is a pretty sight to see the little creature 

 climbing among the high stalks of grass and 

 corn, holding fast, not only by its feet, but by 

 its tail. 



It eats a quantity of grain, but also a quan- 

 tity of injurious insects, therefore spare its life. 

 It is so pretty, and its nest such a work of art. 

 The country would not be nearly so interesting 

 if all these wild things were got rid of. 



The Vole Family. The large voles are popu- 

 larly called rats, the smaller ones mice. In 

 some respects they resemble the true rats' and 

 mice, but they are really very different, as you 

 have just read. They include the bank voles, 

 the water rat or water vole, and the short-tailed 

 field mouse or field vole. 



You have often seen the water rat or water 

 vole. A splash in the water, and probably a 

 water vole swims away. 



It digs many branched passages in the banks 

 of rivers, brooks, ditches, and canals, and some- 

 times to such an extent does it riddle them that 

 they are completely destroyed. 



It does great damage in grass fields and corn 



