3H 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
The summer nest is of entirely a different construction, being 
placed above ground, though tolerably well concealed. The fol- 
lowing account of it, by Mr. J. J. Briggs, appeared originally in 
the Field newspaper. 4 No wonder that in districts where they 
are difficult to keep down they increase with rapidity, for, like 
the common Mouse, they are prolific breeders. I have found 
nests of this Mouse in almost every week from the end of May 
to the middle of August, and each containing from one to ten 
young, usually from five to seven. The young look poor help- 
less creatures, being both blind and naked. They leave the nest 
in about a month, but remain with their parents for some time 
afterwards. 
4 The nest is placed on the ground in a pasture or meadow; 
a field of mowing grass is preferred, but I have found it among 
corn, where the long herbage affords the coveted quiet and con- 
cealment; but when the crop is cut, the nest is laid bare, and 
the young frequently fall a prey to hawks and other depredators. 
The nest is built in a little hollow on the surface of the earth, 
just concealed at the bottom of the stems of grass. If you pull 
it out it looks like a lump of herds or flax, being composed of 
numerous small pieces of grass nibbled to a fine texture with 
care by the parent animals. 
4 1 have taken up dozens of nests to examine, but in no single 
instance could I ever find an entrance to the interior. How the 
parents gain admission to it seems extraordinary. This remark 
applies to the nest of the White-bellied Field Mouse, and White, 
of Selborne, notices the same fact with reference to the harvest- 
mouse. How the young are suckled seems marvellous, unless 
the conjecture be correct that the female opens a fresh aperture 
in the nest each time she visits her young, and closes it again 
when she departs. 
4 The parents show considerable affection for their young. If 
a nest be exposed by the mower they do not desert it, but on 
the contrary endeavour to conceal it from observation as well 
as they can, by drawing round it the neighbouring grasses and 
plants.' 
The same writer remarks that he has several times caught the 
