Class I. 



HARVEST MOUSE. 



149 



Less long-tailed field mouse. 



Br.Zool. II. App. 498. Hist. 



quad. ii. No. 384. p. 185. 

 Mus messorius. M. supra 



ferrugineus, subtus albus, 



cauda longa subpilosa, auri- 29. Harvest. 



culls vellere longioribus. 



Shale's Gen. Zool. ii. p. 62. 

 Linn. Tr. vii. 274. 

 White s Selborhe, 33, 39. 



Manners, 



JL HIS species is very numerous in Hampshire* 

 particularly during harvest. 



They form their nest above the ground, be- 

 tween the straws of the standing corn, and some- 

 times in thistles ; it is of a round shape, and 

 composed of the blades of corn. They bring 

 about eight young at a time. 



They never enter houses, but are often carried 

 in the sheaves of corn into ricks, and a hundred 

 of them have been found in a single rick, on 

 pulling it down to be housed. Those that are 

 not thus carried away in the sheaves, shelter 

 themselves during winter under ground, and 

 burrow deep, forming a warm bed for them- 

 selves of dead grass. 



They are (except the Shrew) the smallest of Descrip- 



. . . TION. 



the British quadrupeds ; their length from nose 

 to tail is only two inches and a half; their tail 

 two inches ; their weight one sixth of an ounce. 



* It is said by the observant Mr. Montagu, not to be uncom- 

 mon in Wiltshire, Devon, and Glocestershire. Ed. 



