THE LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 15 



would lead to the supposition that the animal exists here is contained in 

 the following extract from my journal: — 



" May 12, 1838. — Mr. Adams, gamekeeper at Shane's Castle Park (Co. 

 Antrim), mentioned to me what he had heard of a remarkably small kind of 

 mouse and its nest, the description of which would apply to this species. The 

 nest was built nearly as high from the ground as the narrator's knees, and was 

 suspended between stalks of wheat, in a field of this grain : the old animals 

 scarcely bent the stalks of wheat when running up them. The observer, a 

 schoolmaster and farmer, resident within a mile of Shane's Castle, related the 

 above to Mr. Adams, as an extraordinary fact which had come under his notice 

 last autumn." 



Long-tailed Field Mouse, 3fus syhatkus, Linn. 



This species is commonly distributed throughout the island. 



In gardens at a short distance from Belfast, I have known them to 

 commit very extensive depredations on the early crops of peas and beans. 

 Although annoying, it was at the same time amusing, to observe how 

 completely they had carried off every bean of the first crop. These had 

 been planted in double rows, and above every bean there was a cylindri- 

 cal hole excavated, by which the mice had gained access to it. Traps 

 made of a single brick were successfully used for their destruction. 



In reference to the partiality shown by this species for beans. Pennant 

 remarked, that " in some places they are called bean mice, from the havoc 

 they make upon beans, when first sown." 



I have known one instance of the capture of a long-tailed field mouse 

 inside of an inhabited dwelling-house, near Belfast. The specimen was 

 sent to me, and I compared it minutely with Bell's description (Brit. 

 Quad.). It was much more dull in colour than any I had before seen, 

 but was the true 3Ius sylvaticus. 



In the Annals of Nat. Hist. vol. vii. p. 268, Mr. Jenyns published the 

 following note : — 



" Mus syhaticusf — I have two or three times had submitted to my examin- 

 ation specimens of a mouse found on the tops of the Irish mountains, either be- 

 longing to this species or very closely allied to it; but those which I have seen 

 have been in too bad condition (merely dried skins) to enable me to decide this 

 point. One of these was taken in the County of Kerry, at an elevation of 2500 

 feet above the sea-level. The only respects in which they appear to differ from 

 the M, sylvaticics are in being of a darker colour, smaller, and with some of the 

 relative proportions rather less ; but it must be left for those who have an op- 

 portunity of examining a large number in a recent state to say whether there 

 are any real grounds for believing them to be distinct. On the whole, I am 

 inclined to think that they are only a small variety of that species, somewhat 

 medified in its character from the peculiar locality which they inhabit." 



The specimens referred to in the above extract passed through my 

 hands, and I had previously come to the same conclusion as Mr. Jenyns. 



At Fort William, within a few miles of Belfast, two nests of this species 

 of mouse were, within the space of a fortnight, found in one of the bee- 

 hives, the mice having entered by the same aperture as the bees. Num- 

 bers of these intruders were caught in traps placed below the hives, and 

 also close to the bees' entrance. In winter the mice often broke into 

 the hive, and ate the honey-comb. 



The Common Mouse, J/m* mnsculus, Linn,, 



Is too well known to require anything to be said as to its distribution. 



