144 RODENTS. 



chief food consists of grain and other vegetable articles of human consumption. 

 It is noteworthy that in corn-stacks rats and mice live in perfect harmony together, 

 without any trace of that mutual antipathy existing between the brown and the 

 black rat. This mouse is nearly as prolific as the brown rat, producing from three 

 to five litters in a year, each of wliich includes from four to eight blind young. In 

 habits, the house mouse is more active than most of its kindred, being able to 

 ascend vertical walls with ease, and also having the power of springing to 

 considerable distances. In domestication, white and pied breeds of this species 

 are common. 



This mouse exhibits a peculiar susceptibility to musical sounds, to which it 

 listens with marked attention. Occasionally, in common with other members of 

 the family, individuals of this species are endowed with considerable vocal powers. 

 A lady writes that although the song of one of these " singing-mice " was not very 

 effective, yet it was a distinct vocal effort. Sometimes the mouse in her 

 possession "would run up an octave, and end with a decided attempt at a trill. 

 Sometimes it would try to trill up all the notes. An octave seemed to be about its 

 range. I could distinctly see the expansion and vibration of its throat and chest 

 as one can in a song-bird. Its favourite position when singing was an erect one, 

 standing on its hind-feet." 



Long-Tailed Since the term " field mice " is popularly applied to the voles as 



Field Mouse. W ell as to the true mice, it is necessary to prefix the epithet " long- 

 tailed" to the common British species {M. aylvaticus) of the present genus. This 

 field mouse is rather larger than the field vole, from which it can be distinguished 

 at a glance by its lighter build, longer and more pointed muzzle, much larger ears, 

 and greatly elongated tail, which is nearly equal in length to the head and body. 

 The general colour of the fur is reddish grey above, ami whitish beneath, with a 

 spot of light brown on the chest. This species is common in many parts of England, 

 and is also widely distributed over the temperate regions of Europe, while eastwards 

 it is replaced by the closely allied Persian field mouse, ranging from Persia over a 

 large portion of Central Asia. 



This field mouse is generally found in England in gardens, hedgerows, and 

 cornfields, but in winter it sometimes takes shelter in houses, while it also frequents 

 corn-stacks, although in less numbers than the house mouse. It commonly burrows 

 in the ground, and lays up large stores of food for winter use: whole handfuls of 

 corn, nuts, or seeds being sometimes discovered in these subterranean retreats. 

 Since these mice are exceedingly prolific, the amount of damage they sometimes 

 do to cornfields and gardens is almost incalculable ; and additional harm is fre- 

 quently effected by pigs in their search after the concealed hordes of these little 

 Rodents. 



The elegant little creature of which a jjroup is represented in the 

 Harvest Mouse. . . 



coloured Plate is the most beautiful, and also almost the smallest 



of the British mammals : the one inferior to it in point of size being the pigmy 

 shrew. The harvest mouse (M. minutus), as the creature is called, was first dis- 

 covered in England by Gilbert White of Selborne, and is so small that its weight is 

 only about one-sixth of an ounce ; the total length being about 4i inches, of which 

 nearly one-half is taken up by the tail. The ears and tail are proportionately 



