254 



THAT S IT : 



testify, they are not a little annoying, digging 

 up peas and beans when newly sown or when 

 beginning to germinate. One r# their natural 

 enemies, and one of the most efficient agents 

 in their destruction, is the short-eared owl 

 (Otis Ulula). Latham informs us that in cer- 

 tain districts which have been infested with 

 these mice, the "owls have collected in large 

 troops, and attacked the depredators to their 

 utter extermination." It is not exclusively to 

 vegetable matters that these mice confine their 

 diet ; young birds become their prey, and when 

 food is scarce they will attack each other, the 

 younger or weaker falling victims to the more 

 powerful. 



The field mouse, though ex- 

 tremely timid, is easily tamed, 

 and rendered familiar, and its 

 manners are very engaging. It 

 is free from the unpleasant odour 

 which renders the common mouse 

 a nuisance. The field mouse 

 breeds twice in the year, pro- 

 ducing from six to ten young at 

 a time. It is easy, therefore, to 

 calculate the rapidity of its mul- 

 tiplication, ai d to account for 

 the sudden appearance of swarms 

 in spots where few had been 

 previously observed. Buffon 

 states that by means of a single 

 trap two thousand three hundred 

 were killed in twenty-three days 

 in a single field of about forty 

 acres in extent.* 



In similar situations we may 

 look for the dormouse, 5, a little 

 animal which appears to be 

 intermediate between squirrels 

 and mice. They inhabit the 

 woods and thick hedges, building 

 their nests, which are lined with 

 moss and dead leaves, either in 

 the hollows of trees, or near the 

 roots of close shrubs. Towards 

 the approach of winter they form 

 little magazines of nuts, beans, 

 acorns, &c, on which they 

 subsist during the inclement 

 season ; when they retire to 



* Knight's Museum of Animated Nature 



their retreats, roll themselves 

 up, and fall into a torpid or 

 lethargic state, which lasts, with 

 little interruption, till the winter 

 is over. It was formerly be- 

 lieved that their hybernation 

 was a state of continual sleep 

 from the period that they sought 

 their winter quarters, until they 

 emerged from them in a more 



genial season. Buffon, however, 

 very properly exposed the ab- 

 surdity of the ancient notion ; 

 and has observed that these 

 animals occasionally wake, and 

 make use of their stock of 

 provision. They bring forth 

 three or four at a time, which 

 are usually born blind, and 

 remain so for a . few days. 



The common mouse is not a 

 native of this country, but was 

 brought here by the early set- 

 tlers, and has now extended, 

 with the increase of population, 

 to every part of the Continent. 

 There are several varieties, dis- 

 tinguished by their color, the 

 rarest of which is the white. 

 The mouse makes a nest not 

 unlike that of a bird, and brings 



* " American Cyclopedia," 



