WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



had been hoping for. In a wild state it seems 

 fairly certain that these two races of mice do 

 not mingle. I have invariably found when 

 trapping mice, whether in the garden or the 

 fields, that where you take long-tails you do 

 not catch yellow-necks, and vice versa. The 

 only time I have seen two mice together, which 

 could possibly have been one of either sort, 

 was in the case of a couple that invaded a bee- 

 hive. 



It is an extraordinary thing, but nevertheless 

 a fact — ^indeed among bee-keepers it is a well- 

 known fact— that field mice are very fond of 

 honey and will rob a hive if they possibly can. 

 They appear generally to make their way in on 

 the cold autumn nights, when the bees are 

 drowsy and not readily roused to danger. 

 I cannot believe that any mouse, even the 

 finest of yellow-necks, would venture near a 

 hive of which the inmates were alive and 

 wakeful, with the sentinels posted at the door 

 ready to attack all intruders. In the case of 

 the hive of which I write it was not until 

 November that it was realised that there 

 was anything wrong. The hive was opened, 

 and in a corner on the top of a bar-frame was 

 a round ball of leaves and grass— a mouse's 

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