RODENTS 



85 



stores. The damages this animal inflicts upon the farmer are consider- 

 able, especially as it is extremely prolific. For this reason its enemies 

 (the polecat, weasel, and owl) deserve protection. 



The Common House Mouse {Mm muscidns) and the Brown Rat 

 (Mus decumanus) are the best-known, and at the same time best-hated, 

 species of the rodent family. Only hard metals can withstand their 

 sharp, destructive teeth. Even strong walls cannot keep them out of 

 the house, which they infest from garret to cellar. At the same time, 

 they multiply to an almost incredible extent. Their great agility and 

 sharp claws render them adepts at climbing, in which they are further 



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Hamster Filling its Cheek-pouches. (One-sixth natural size.) 

 To the right the head on larger scale. B., the filled cheek-pouches ; E. , entrance of pouch. 



assisted by their long, slightly-haired, scaly-ringed tail. By means of 

 this organ they prop themselves against any unevenness of the object to 

 be climbed, and also use it for winding round thinner objects. Their 

 dull-coloured coat is in keeping with their mode of life. Their distribu- 

 tion is co-extensive with that of man. The brown rat did not migrate 

 from Asia to Europe until the beginning of the last century. It displaced 

 the dark-brown Domestic Rat {Mus rattus) so completely — being much 

 more savage and ferocious — that the latter is now but rarely met with. 



Family 4: Field Mice (Arvicolidae). 



Of the mice which inhabit our fields and woods we shall only 

 mention the Field Mouse (Ar cicala ar rails), which during dry years 



