RATS AMD MICE, 



39 



semble the squirrels with regard to the nature of the damage 

 they do in woods and orchards, but they are injurious in a 

 much less degree. They love to feed on acorns, chestnuts, 

 beech and hazel nuts, and fruit, peel the tender rind from 

 young trees, and rob the nests of certain insectivorous 

 birds of their young broods. They also bite off the young 

 sprays of conifers, like squirrels ; but they nibble off the 

 needles only, and do not feed on the flowering-buds. Alder, 

 birch, beech, and hazel, of ten to twenty-five years of age, 

 are most liable to be damaged through gnawing of the bark, 

 but the injuries thus inflicted occur mostly in narrow, hori- 

 zontal lines, and are not so large as those due to squirrels. 

 On the whole, their attention is rather confined to woods 

 formed of the broad-leaved species of trees than to those 

 in which coniferous trees are most numerous. As they feed 

 during the night-time it is much more difficult to find them 

 actually engaged in the work of gnawing than is the case 

 with squirrels or certain other kinds of mice. Before retiring 

 into the hollov/s of trees for their winter period of rest they 

 lay up food-supplies in the shape of various fruits and 

 berries. 



As, under favourable circumstances, dormice increase with 

 great rapidity, active measures must be be taken to keep 

 them in check. Wherever the marten is to be found 

 they are not likely to multiply unduly ; but otherwise traps 

 will have to be laid for them, as their small size and nocturnal 

 habits alike preclude the advisability of shooting them. 



AIICE {Alicndc^), 

 Mice differ from voles in having a pointed head, large 

 ears, and a tail as long as the body. Two species, the 

 Harvest Mouse {Afics rainntus) and the Long-tailed Field 

 or Garden Mouse (^lus sylvaticiis) do damage in woods 

 and nurseries. They turn up and devour acorns, beech- 

 mast, and hazel-nuts that have been sown out in the 



