THE COMMON MOUSE 



The Common Mouse is a good climber and with its power of gnawing 

 soon finds a way info cupboards and storerooms, where it will often make its 

 nest and rear its young. The nest is made of various warm materials, 

 including odds and ends of wool, straw, shreds of paper, etc. 



This species seems sensitive to cold, and, like the Wood Mouse, when 

 caught alive in a trap during chilly weather and not quickly removed, will 

 soon become numb and die from exposure. 



The most distinctly marked variety of this Mouse in the British Islands 

 is the St. Kilda House Mouse {mus muralis^ Barrett-Hamilton) whose head 

 and body measure up to 4I inches and tail nearly 3I inches. The example 

 shown in Plate 28 was drawn from a specimen obtained along with a 

 number of others by Dr. Eagle Clarke for the Royal Scottish Museum, who 

 describes it as follows in the Scottish ^H^turalist (June 19 14), " This is the 

 House Mouse of St. Kilda, and being such is not found out of Hirta — the 

 only inhabited -isle of the group. On this island, however, it is not confined 

 to the houses, where it is very abundant, but occurs in the crofts, finding 

 shelter in the walls and cleits. . . . 



" In general colour the upper surface of all the adults resembles that of 

 a rather light-coloured example of the ordinary House Mouse ; but the 

 coloration of the upper surface presents a remarkable departure from that 

 species, being of a bright buff and clearly separated from the upper surface 

 by a well marked line of demarcation. The hind foot is broader and more 

 robust than in mus musculusr 



II 



