THE MOUSE. 233 



they abandoned their attempts though a single mouse would 

 occasionally reconnoitre the scene, apparently unsatisfied with 

 the defeat. Mice, like many other animals, are said to be 

 much affected by music. 



tpjig The harvest mouse is a most interesting little 



Harvest creature; whose habits are thus described by 

 Mouse, ■^hjtg of Selbome : — " They build their nest amidst 

 the straws of the com above the ground, and sometimes in 

 thistles. They breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little 

 round nest composed of the blades of grass or wheat. One of 

 these I prociured this autumn, most artificially plaited, 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 belonged. 

 It was so compact and well filled that it would roll across 

 the table without being discomposed, though it contained 

 eight little mice that were naked and blind. As this nest 

 was perfectly fiiU, how could the dam come at her litter, 

 respectively so as to administer a teat to each? Perhaps 

 she opens different places for that purpose, adjusting them 

 again when the business is over; but she could not possibly 

 be contained, herself, in the ball with her young, which more- 

 over would be daily increasing in bulk. This procreant 

 cradle — an elegant instance of the efforts of instinct— was found 

 in a wheat field, suspended in the head of a thistle." 

 The Field There are two kinds of field mice, the long- 

 Mouse, tailed and the short-tailed varieties. The long- 

 tailed field mouse is the mouse immortalised by Burns, and 

 is found throughout Europe. The short-tailed variety occupies 

 much the same geographical area, though it probably extends 

 further. The latter are very destructive, and have sometimes 

 increased to such an extent, that organised efforts have had 

 to be made to exterminate it. 



The The common dormouse, and the greater dor- 



Pormouse. mouse are the principal varieties of this interesting 



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