Thames : nor can I hear any more about those birds 

 which I suspected were Merulce torquatce. 



As to the small mice, I have further to remark, 

 that though they hang their nests for breeding up 

 amidst the straws of the standing corn, above the 



A corn-rick in Norton farmyard. 



ground ; yet I find that, in the winter, they burrow 

 deep in the earth, and make warm beds of grass : but 

 their grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, 

 into which they are carried at harvest. A neighbour 

 housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch of which 

 were assembled near an hundred, most of which were 

 taken ; and some I saw. I measured them, and found 



54 



