446 
MAMMALIA. 
the surface of the ground by apertures about an inch in diameter, 
and placed at a suitable distance from each other. Three or four 
winding passages, penetrating still farther into the depth of the 
ground, lead on to an equal number of comparatively spacious 
storehouses, where the “people of the house,” that is, the male 
and female, hoard up roots of all kinds, which have been pre- 
viously scraped and dried in the sun, and which are arranged in 
separate heaps, according to the nature of each. If, in spite of all 
these precautions, the provisions get damp, the little animals bring 
Tig. 182. — Campagnol, or Short-tailed Field-Mouse ( Arvicola arvahs). 
them up again into the open air, and dry them a second time. 
Looking at these actions, so full of intelligence and reason, can 
we in all seriousness speak of the mere instinct of animals P 
The quantity of food which the Economic Mouse stores up during 
the time of plenty is sometimes considerable ; for it occasionally 
reaches as much as fifty pounds weight, and in such case forms 
a resource for the miserable, half- starved inhabitants of eastern 
Siberia. The natives of this country hunt out these burrows to 
plunder them, but they always take care to leave a little of the 
hoard behind, so as not to reduce the industrious collectors to 
starvation. 
Like the Lemmings, of which we shall shortly speak, the 
Economic Mice are in the habit of migrating. United in large 
