Vermin of the Farm. 
221 
toroiis,’ and for this reason, as well as on account of its small 
size and comparatively local distribution, it cannot be regarded 
as particularly harmful to the agriculturist. 
We have several times kept harvest-mice in captivity and 
got them to rear their young to maturity, and very pretty little 
pets they become, allowing themselves to be handled without 
attempting to bite, and taking food from the hand.* * 
The accurate account of this little animal given by Gilbert 
White in his thirteenth letter to Pennant should be read by 
riG. 2 . — The Harvest-mouse, J/us messorius. 
everyone who desires to know something of its habits. He 
measured one and found that from nose to tail it was just 21- 
inches, with a tail 2 inches long. Two of them in a scale weighed 
down just one copper halfpenny, which is about the third of an 
ounce avoirdupois, or one-sixth the weight of an adult common 
house-mouse. 
We are indebted to Gilbert White for the first published 
account of this beautiful little animal as indigenous to this 
country, although it appears to have been previously seen by 
Montagu in Wiltshire (cf. “Trans. Linn. Soc.” vol. vii. p. 274). 
White communicated his discovery to Pennant, who published it 
• Bingley, Animal Biography, and Bartlett, Zoologist, Vol. i. p. 289. 
* Halting, The Field, January 2, 1875. 
VOL. m. T. S. — 10 Q 
