414 MURID^— EVOTOMYS 



the mice sleep without regular couches wherever they may 

 happen to be overtaken by drowsiness, but in more northern 

 localities they certainly construct dormitories and accumulate 

 food-stores,^ especially in winter. It seems likely that the high- 

 ways are a special feature connected with southern agriculture 

 and enclosed fields, and in such extensive burrows a variety of 

 antagonistic species might pass to and fro in safety, concealed 

 from each other by the darkness and absence of distinct 

 "scent."' 



This is a bold species, not timorous of observation by man, 

 and devoid of suspicion of traps, which, as for the Common 

 Shrew, are most successful when most conspicuous. Almost 

 any bait, from nuts to meat, is efficacious. If a mouse be seen 

 running along a hedgerow, and a trap be then set, a capture 

 may frequently be effected within a short time.* 



Though fond of green stuff, the Bank Mouse perhaps more 

 frequently* consumes roots, kernels, nuts, fruits, berries, grain 

 or seeds. ^ Its love for bulbs, carnations, peas, and roots makes 

 it a pest in gardens. In spring it ascends the shrubs of the 

 hedgerow to nibble away the tender leaves,* and in autumn 

 climbs for hips and haws. These are frequently carried off to 

 a burrow and eaten at the entrance, or to a disused bird's nest, 

 where a heap of rejectamenta betrays the feasts.'' Both the 

 kernels and flesh of hips may be eaten, and a hole is rapidly 

 cut through the shell of a filbert or hazel nut, through which 

 the contents are extracted. The shell is pierced in about a 

 minute ; the kernel extracted in about an equal time. Goose- 

 berries are treated Hke nuts, being neatly emptied of their 

 contents by a hole in the side.^ Apart, however, from the 

 necessary boring of a hole, it (like other mice) differs from 



^ See below, p. 436. 2 qj above, article Rabbit, p. 205. 



^ The first two specimens of E. ccesarius of Jersey were thus taken by me, traps 

 being placed where the mice were seen running about at 11 a.m., and taken up before 

 dark. Borrer {op. cit.) once had a wild Bank Mouse sitting on his foot. 



■* As is shown by the fact that in captivity it will not survive long without hard food 

 (A. H. Cocks). 



•' In Norway an Evotomys was caught hurrying off with seven grains of barley in 

 its mouth (CoUett). " Especially of wild rose and hawthorn : see W. Evans; 



F. Coburn, Zoologist, 1894, 303. ^ J. H. Teesdale, Journ. cit., 1895, 186. Cocks 

 reports (January 1914) a blackbird's nest in a hedge quite full of nibbled hips. 



* Alston, Zoologist, 1866, 9-10. 



