THE HARVEST MOUSE 



nest may be found, skilfully fashioned of grasses, corn blades, etc. The 

 interior is lined with finely shredded leaves of grasses or other plants. 



Gilbert White noted that one found suspended in the head of a thistle 

 in a wheat field was " most artificially platted, 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 was no discovering to what part 

 it belonged. It was so complete and well filled that it would roll across 

 the table without being discomposed, though it contained eight Httle 

 mice that were naked and blind." 



The Harvest Mouse breeds several times in the year, producing from 

 five to about eight or nine young at a time. 



In England this species usually shelters in corn stacks during winter, 

 but in Holland, according to the late Professor Schlegel, they make their 

 winter nests among reed-beds. These differ from their summer homes, 

 being larger and composed of mosses, and resembling the nest of the 

 Reed Warbler in their attachment to the stems of the plants, not far 

 from the water's level. 



The Harvest Mouse is occasionally active and about in winter. I 

 have had one which was caught in a hedgerow near my home in 

 December, and at another time I got a specimen from a stable, which 

 had probably been brought in with some straw. 



Though slower in movement and without the power of leaping like 

 the Field Mouse, they are nimble little creatures, and climb among the 

 corn stalks and stems of grasses with an easy action, assisted as they pause 

 in passing from one straw to another by their more or less prehensile 

 tails, which instinctively lapping round a stalk, help to steady the foot- 

 hold of the animal. 



The food consists of corn and seeds of various kinds and also, 

 as has often been observed, of insects. Two of these mice I watched 



3 



