BRITISH MAMMALS 
We are indebted to Gilbert White of Selborne for the earliest written 
account of this species in England, as described in a letter to Pennant in 
November 1767, but Montagu claims to have known it in Wiltshire 
before its discovery in Hampshire by the Selborne naturalist. 
Though the Harvest Mouse is now undoubtedly less plentiful than in 
former days, perhaps, as has been suggested, on account of the closely 
cut stubble left by the modern reaping machine, it seems still to be well 
distributed over the greater part of England, especially in the southern 
and eastern divisions. 
Though I have never succeeded in finding the nest, I consider the 
species fairly common in the neighbourhood of Godalming, Surrey, 
having in January 191 8 received seven specimens and later in the 
same winter some others, which had been obtained when corn-stacks were 
threshed. 
In the Midland counties it seems to be rarer, and from Yorkshire 
northwards it becomes still less frequent, records from the Lake district, 
Durham, and Northumberland being few and far between. 
Across the border in Scotland it has only occurred locally and at rare 
intervals. MacGillivray recorded it from Aberdeenshire, Midlothian, and 
Fifeshire, and in the last mentioned county found a nest in a tuft of grass 
{Aira ccespitosa). Mr. W. Evans recorded a nest discovered by himself 
near Aberlady, East Lothian. The Harvest Mouse has also been noted 
in Berwickshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and a few 
other counties at different times. 
The question whether it inhabits Wales is uncertain and it is unknown 
in Ireland. 
During the warmer part of the year this species lives amidst the tall 
vegetation of hedgerows, in reed-beds, or in fields of growing corn, where, 
woven among the wheat or barley stalks, grass stems, or thistle heads, the 
2 
