454 Prof. J. Steenstrup on the Character of the 



such as are ready to hand, which it enlarges for its own con- 

 venience. Here it collects stores of provisions, consisting of 

 acorns, fir- and spruce-seeds, nuts and berries, especially 

 mountain-ash-berries, seeds, and juicy roots, which are some- 

 times accumulated in great quantity. It also peels off the 

 bark from young trees and their roots, especially in winter, 

 under the snow." 



These quotations suffice to show that the wood-mice both 

 collect provisions and have large holes for them, whilst they 

 have others for their dwelling-place. But a still closer agree- 

 ment with the statements given by Henderson will be found 

 in the following short description of the mode of life of the 

 wood-mouse, taken from Melchior's ' Den danske Stats og 

 Norges Pattedyr ' (pp. 102 & 103) :— 



" They live principally," he says, " in woods and gardens 

 and also in fields on the borders of woods. Just under the 

 surface of the ground they dig horizontal galleries, sometimes 

 of half a score yards in length, from which smaller oblique 

 galleries lead down to their domicile, which consists of two 

 small cavities, one for a store-room, the other for the dwelling- 

 place of whole families ; and near this last there is again a 

 peculiar small space for impurities, which they never deposit 

 in the proper dwelling-place. Such a residence is commonly 

 from half to one yard below the surface of the ground ; but 

 one sees no earth that has been thrown up from it or from the 

 galleries. In winter they visit corn-stacks and sometimes 

 bams. 



" Their food, like that of the preceding, consists of corn, 

 stone-fruit, &c, of which they collect a winter supply, but 

 often without making use of it. They likewise eat like the 

 preceding, sitting on their hind legs and holding the food 

 between the fore feet." 



We have here the store-chamber, the domicile, the impurity- 

 pit (or cesspool), the long gallery, &c. ; and we may lay all 

 the more weight upon this description, if we remember that 

 Melchior had particularly and through a long series of years 

 studied the life of this animal, both in the woods and at home. 

 I can further add, from my own observation, that earth thrown 

 out or up is no more found near the holes of our Mus sylva- 

 ticus than near those of the Icelandic heath- or wood-mouse — 

 a circumstance which has often struck me. We see from this 

 how completely unwarranted Murray was in expressing him- 

 self as he has done at p. 269 (see p. 450) : — " That an economic 

 rodent lives in Iceland, is, I think, established ; but the ac- 

 count given of its runs and granaries makes it not less clear 

 that it is not Mus sylvaticus. There is no European mouse 



