•U2 



VERTEBRATA. 



down two of them, — lives in the fields and makes liis little nest two or three feet from the ground 

 on several standing stalks of wheat, bound together by grass. Dr. Gloger deseribes one of these 

 nests as beautifully constructed of the panicles and leaves of three stems of the common reed, inter- 



NEST OF THE HARVEST MOUSE. 



woven together, and forming a roundish ball, suspenaea on the living plants, about five inches 

 from the ground. On the side opposite the stems, rather below the middle, was a small aperture, 

 which appeared to be closed during the absence of the parent, and was scarcely observable even 

 after one of the young had made its escape through it. The inside, when examined with the 

 little finger, was found to be soft and warm, smooth, and neatly rounded, but very confined; it 

 contained only five young ; but another which he found w T as less elaborately formed, yet it shel- 

 tered no less than nine. The panicles and leaves were slit into minute strips or strings by the 

 teeth of the animal in order to assist the neatness of its weaving. Mr. Macgillivray found one of 

 these nests in Fifeshire, composed of dry blades of coarse grass arranged in a globular form, and 

 placed in the midst of a tuft of A'ira ccespitosa, nine inches from the ground ; it contained six or 

 r, naked and blind. The; food of this little mouse consists of corn and grass-seeds, in- 

 sects and earth-worms. It is very prolific, and breeds in confinement, but in that case destroys 

 its young. This species is distributed throughout the cultivated fields of Europe from France to 

 Finland, and eastward to Siberia. 



Among the other species of this genus in Europe are the following: M. vagus, found in Russia; 

 M. apilis, in Germany; M. agrarius, in Germany and Russia; M. Pecchioli, in Southern Italy; M- 

 hortulamis, in the Crimea; M. leucogastcr, in Switzerland; M. tectorum, M. frugivorus, and M. 

 dicrurus, of Italy. 



The Black Rat and Buowx Rat are doubtless both of Asiatic origin, but they are now t 

 better known and more widely distributed in other parts of the world, and especially in Europe 

 and America. The ancient Greeks and Romans were not acquainted with either of these specie* 

 The Black Rat was introduced into Europe about the time of the Crusades,- and the Brown Rat 

 during the eighteenth century. Both these species are omnivorous; both prepare nests of leaves, .' 



