HABITS OF THE LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 205 



maximum ; in a wild state, however, the litters are probably 

 larger. From seven to ten is the number stated by Bell, while 

 Fatio gives it as four to six. It seems probable that more 

 than one pair sometimes jointly occupy a burrow, several mice 

 being at times bolted at once when water is poured into a 

 hole. Buffon gives an instance where twenty-two were found in 

 a single hole, viz. two females and twenty young. Mr. Barrington 

 estimates the period of gestation to be about three weeks. 



Their burrows, which are their usual retreats during the day , 

 and in which the young are born, are to be found in woods, 

 orchards, gardens, hedge-biinks, &c. ; they are also often made in 

 the open fields, especially where peas or beans have been recently 

 sown, also at harvest time, remaining till the stubbles are 

 ploughed. From the quantity of earth thrown out at one or 

 more of the openings (of which there are seldom less than three) 

 they are often conspicuous objects, looking at a little distance 

 like mole-hills. Old manure-heaps, probably from the warmth 

 generated in them, are favourite spots with these little animals ; 

 and they not unfrequently make their abode in sheds and out- 

 houses attached to gardens, where bulbs, seeds, &c., are kept. 



The singular tenacity with which the young mice cling to 

 their dam when she is surprised and put to flight was, as far as 

 I am aware, first observed — or at any rate recorded — by the 

 Eev. Gilbert White, the instance on which his attention was 

 drawn to this circumstance occurring during the removal of the 

 lining of a hot-bed. He says, " From out of the side of this bed 

 leaped an animal with great agility, that made a most grotesque 

 figure ; nor was it without great difficulty that it could be taken, 

 when it proved to be a large white-bellied Field Mouse, with 

 three or four young clinging to her teats by their mouths and 

 feet. It was amazing that the desultory and rapid motions of 

 this dam should not oblige her litter to quit their hold, especially 

 when it appeared that they were so young as to be both naked 

 and blind !" Fatio witnessed a similar occurrence : a female was 

 ploughed out of the ground with young ones clinging to her, but 

 not, as in the instance given by White, to the teats, but "accroches 

 par les pieds anterieurs et par les dents a sa queue et a ses poils." 

 As regards the manner of attachment, Mr. Barrington's observa- 

 tions are in accordance with those of the author of the ' Natural 

 History of Selborne'; for, after remarking that the mothers 



