54 
ROCK, AND (ECONOMIC MOUSE, 
eies in com fields, barns, and birch woods. It is 
said there are more males than females of this 
species, and that they seem to wander without 
having any certain place for their nests. They 
have sharpish noses, and small ears half hid in their 
fur, and are of a deep tawny colour above, white 
below, with grey feet. 
Rock mouse. 
The rock mouse is about four inches long ; its 
tail one and a half, having a few hairs scattered 
over it. Its head is oblong ; its nose rather 
pointed ; its ears rise above the fur ; and are oval 
and downy, with brown edges ; its whiskers are 
short ; its limbs are strong ; its colour is brown, 
slightly mixed with grey above ; its belly is of a 
light ash ; its snout dusky, with a very slender 
ring of white. It makes its burrows in a wonder- 
ful manner, between the fissures of rocks. 
(Economic mouse. 
The (economic mouse has small eyes ; naked 
ears hid in its fur ; strong limbs, and very tawny 
teeth. Its colour is black and yellow intimately 
mixed. It has a dark down beneath the hair ; 
the ends of its feet are dusky. It is about four 
inches and a quarter long ; its tail is rather more 
than an inch. In the form of its body, it resem- 
bles the meadow mouse ; but is rather longer, and 
lias a bigger belly. 
It inhabits all Siberia, especially its eastern 
parts, and Kamtschatka, in great numbers. It is 
even found within the arctic circle. 
Dr. Pallas gave them the name of oeconomic 
mice from their curious way of living. They in— 
habit damp soils, and shun the sandy, and form 
