THE COMMON MOUSE 
The Common Mouse is a good climber and with its power of gnawing 
soon finds a way into cupboards and storerooms, where it will often make its 
nest and rear its young. The nest is made of various warm materials, 
including odds and ends of wool, straw, shreds of paper, etc. 
This species seems sensitive to cold, and, like the Wood Mouse, when 
caught alive in a trap during chilly weather and not quickly removed, will 
soon become numb and die from exposure. 
The most distinctly marked variety of this Mouse in the British Islands 
is the St. Kilda House Mouse {Mus mura/is, Barrett-Hamilton) whose head 
and body measure up to 4! inches and tail nearly 3! inches. The example 
shown in Plate 28 was drawn from a specimen obtained along with a 
number of others by Dr. Eagle Clarke for the Royal Scottish Museum, who 
describes it as follows in the Scottish 3^aturalis( (June 19 14), " This is the 
House Mouse of St. Kilda, and being such is not found out of Hirta — the 
only inhabited isle of the group. On this island, however, it is not confined 
to the houses, where it is very abundant, but occurs in the crofts, finding 
shelter in the walls and cleits. . . . 
" In general colour the upper surface of all the adults resembles that of 
a rather light-coloured example of the ordinary House Mouse ; but the 
coloration of the upper surface presents a remarkable departure from that 
species, being of a bright buff and clearly separated from the upper surface 
by a well marked line of demarcation. The hind foot is broader and more 
robust than in mus musculus." 
1 1 
