MUS EUFESCEirs. 199 



remarks, often found resting during the day on the jhil-mil, or Venetian 

 blinds. It makes a nest in mango trees, or in thick bushes and hedges. 

 Hodgson calls it the common house-rat of Nepal, and Kelaart also calls it 

 the small house-rat of Trincomalee. Blyth writes me that it comes very 

 near Mus alexandrinus of Africa. 



I have given Hodgson's brunneus as the name of this species on Blyth's 

 authority. Whether M. cequicaudalis be the same or not is yet doubtful. 

 He describes it as " pure dark brown above, with a very shght caste of 

 rufescent in some aspects; underneath, from chin to vent, with interior 

 of thighs, yellowish white ; head and ears long." 



180. Mus mfescens. 



Gray, Mag. Nat. 'Hist. 1837. — M. flavescens, Elliot, Cat. — Blyth, 

 Cat. p. 115. — M. arhoreus, Buchanan Hamilton apud Hoesfield, Cat. 

 Mamm. — M. bmnnensculus, Hodgson. — Gachua indur, Beng. 



The Eufescent Tbee-eat. 



Descr. — Pale yellowish-brown or rufescent brown above, white beneath, 

 with numerous bristles on the back tipped with black. Head long, muzzle 

 pointed ; face narrow ; eyes large ; incisors yellow ; ears very large, sub- 

 ovate, nude. 



Length of one, head and body b^ inches ; tail 6 J : another measured, 

 head and body 7J ; tail 85, and some are recorded as even larger than 

 that. 



It varies a good deal in the character of the upper fur, some being 

 described as above dark-iron gray, with the lower parts white, the hairs 

 black and tawny, the former the most numerous. This variety, however, 

 may be a distinct species, M. niveiventer, q. v. Some are much browner 

 than others, and the lower surface is sometimes very white, often pale 

 yellow, at other times not much paler than the upper surface. The 

 white is generally abruptly separated from the hue above, rarely gradu- 

 ally blending. It comes very near the last, but differs in its smaller 

 size, in the more general rufescent tone of coloring, and the lower parts 

 being whiter. In the south of India, specimens are generally pale rufes- 

 cent above, yellowish-white below, and it is rare to meet with dark 

 brown specimens, as is said to be often the case at Calcutta. Perhaps 



