ORDER RODENTIA. 133 



Mr. White, in his history of Selbourn, a sort of work, by 

 the way, well worthy of imitation, particularly by the Clergy 

 and others, who, with the blessings of liberal education, 

 possess the means of local observation, first made this 

 species known to the public, nor indeed have we any other 

 original account of it. We shall quote his own words, 

 though they have been already transferred by Shaw to the 

 General Zoology. 



"These Mice are much smaller and more slender than the 

 Mus domesticus medius of Ray, and have more of the 

 Squirrel or Dormouse colour ; their belly is white ; a 

 straight line along their sides divides the shades of their 

 back and belly. They never enter into houses ; are carried 

 into ricks and barns with the sheaves ; abound in harvest, 

 and build their nest amidst the straws of corn above ground, 

 and sometimes in thistles. They breed as many as eight 

 at a litter, in a little brown nest, composed of blades of 

 grass or wheat. The nest is most artificially platted, and 

 composed of the blades of wheat, perfectly round, and about 

 the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture so ingeniously 

 closed, that there is no discovering to what part it belongs. 

 It is so compact and well fitted, that it will roll across a 

 table without being discomposed, though it contained eight 

 little mice, which are naked and blind. As the nest is per- 

 fectly full, how could the dam," asks Mr. White, " come at 

 her litter respectively, so as to administer a teat to each 1 

 Perhaps she opens different places for that purpose, ad- 

 justing them again when the business is over ; but she 

 could not possibly be contained herself in the ball with 

 her young, which, moreover, would be daily increasing, in 

 bulk." 



Mr. White informs us, that though they construct nests 

 for breeding above ground, and are found most abundantly 

 in corn-ricks in Hampshire, they nevertheless burrow in 

 winter, and pass the severe season underground. 



