424 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



THE MOUSE. 



(Mits Musculus, Linn. Le Sour is, Buff. 



THIS well-known little animal is diffused in great 

 numbers over almost every part of the world. It 

 seems a constant attendant on man, and is to be 

 found only near his dwelling. Its enemies are 

 numerous and powerful, and its means of resistance 

 weak and inconsiderable: its minuteness seems to 

 be its best security; and it is saved from utter ex- 

 tinction only by its amazing fecundity. 



The Mouse brings forth several times in the year, 

 and generally from six to ten each litter. The 

 young are produced without hair, and in little more 

 than fifteen days are able to subsist by themselves ; 

 so that the increase is prodigious. Aristotle tells 

 us, that having shut up in a vessel a Mouse big 

 with young, and provided plenty of grain for her 

 and her offspring, in a short time he found 120 

 Mice, all sprung from the same stock. 



