M U S. 
vided into two apartments, the one for living in along 
•with their young, the other for a magazine of provifions; 
and considerable damage is often done in the fields by 
hogs, who, allured by the fmell of the acorns and other 
provision, dig into tlie'fe hoards, and devour both the 
food and the inhabitants. M. de BufFon affirms, that in 
France more mifchief is done by the field-mice than by 
all the birds and other animals put together; and adds, 
that the only way to prevent this is by laying traps, at ten 
paces afunder, through the whole extent of the Sown 
ground. No other apparatus, he fays, is neceffary than a 
roafted walnut, placed under a Slone fupported by a Slick ; 
the animals come to eat the W'alnut, which they prefer to 
acorns, and, as the walnut is fixed to the Slick, whenever 
they touch it the Stone falls and kills them. When M. de 
Buffon firlt prafitil’ed this experiment, he defined that all 
the field-mice thus taken in traps might be brought to 
him; and found with aflonifhment, that above a hundred 
were taken each day from a piece of ground confifting 
only of about forty acres. From the 15th of November 
to the 8th of December above two thoufand were destroy¬ 
ed in this manner. When the froSl becomes fevere, they 
retire into their holes, and feed on the Stores they have 
collected. They abound, like many other animals of this 
genus, chiefly in autumn, and are far lefs common in the 
lpring ; for, if provifions happen to fail them in the win¬ 
ter, it is thought that they deftroy each other; a circum¬ 
stance which is known occasionally to take place in many 
other fpecies. 
The author of “ Phytologia” obferves, that “ the de- 
(truftion of grain, after it is fown, by field-mice, which 
mine their way very quickly under newly-ploughed 
lands near the Surface, is fuppofed by Mr. Wagftaff, in 
the papers of the Bath Society, to be effected in fome iea- 
fons to a very great extent. And that the tuflocks of 
wheat, feen to arife in many fields, are owing to the gra¬ 
naries of thefe diminutive animals, which he has found 
to contain nearly a hatful of corn, which grows into a 
tuft if the owner becomes accidentally destroyed. It is 
alfo further afierted, that they feed much on the young 
plants, as they ariSe from the feed ; and multiply at that 
time very fait. He detefts their habitations by fmall 
mounds of earth being thrown up, on or near the aper¬ 
tures of their dwellings, or of the paflages which lead to 
their nefts or granaries ; and, by following the courfe of 
thefe pafiages, he found and deftoyed the parents and the 
progeny.” 
A variety (as in the common moufe) has fometimes 
been feen perfectly white, with red eyes. 
y. American long-tailed field-moufe. Mr. Pennant 
adds this to the former Species, imagining it to be a va¬ 
riety. It is fimilar in moil points to the European animal, 
but the hind-legs are longer in proportion : a dark Stripe 
runs down the back ; the cheeks and fides are orange-co¬ 
loured, and the under parts are of a fnowy whiteneSs ; 
the ears are large, naked, and open ; the whiskers very 
long, fome of the hairs being white and fome black ; the 
tail duSky above, and whitifli beneath. It is often found 
in the province of New York. 
13. Mus mefforius, the harvelt-moufe : ferruginous 
above, white beneath, with long ilightly-hairy tail, and 
ears longer than the fur of the head. This Small fpecies 
feems to have efcaped the notice of British naturalists till 
it was obferved by the late Mr. Gilbert White, of Sel- 
burne, in Hampshire, in which county it is frequent. 
Mr. White, in the year 1767, communicated the animal 
to Mr. Pennant, who introduced it into the British Zoo¬ 
logy. “ Thefe mice,” fays Mr. White, “ are much fmaller 
and more Slender than the Mus domeSticus medius of Ray, 
and have more of the Squirrel or dormoufe colour : their 
belly is white; a Straight line along their fides divides the 
Shades of their back and belly. They never enter houfes, 
but are often carried into ricks and barns with the Sheaves; 
they abound in harveft, and build their nelt amidll the 
itraws of corn above ground, and fometimes in Unities, 
230 
They breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little round 
neft compofed of the blades of grals or wheat. One of 
thefe nefts I procured this autumn (1767), mod artifici¬ 
ally platted, and compofed of the blades of wheat; per¬ 
fectly round, and about the Size of a cricket-ball; w-itli 
the aperture So ingeniously clofed, that there was no dis¬ 
covering to what part it belonged. It was fo compact 
and well filled, that it would roll acrofs the table without 
being difcompofed, though it contained eight little mice 
that were naked and blind. As this neft was perfectly 
full, how could the dam come at her litter respectively, So 
as to administer a teat to each ? Perhaps She opens diffe¬ 
rent places for that purpoSe, adjusting them again when 
the bufinefs is over ; but She could not poffibly be con¬ 
tained herSelf in the ball with her young, which more¬ 
over would be daily increafing in bulk. This wonderful 
procreant cradle, an elegant instance of the effedts of 
inltindt, was found in a wheat-field, fufpended in the 
head of a thiftle.” Mr. White adds, that “ though thefe 
animals hang up their nefts for breeding amidft the Straws 
of Standing corn, aboveground, yet in the winter they 
burrow deep in the earth, and make warm beds of grafs; 
but their grand rendezvous feems to be in corn-ricks, 
into which they are carried in harveft.” A neighbour of 
Mr. White’s houfed an oat-rick, in which were Some hun¬ 
dreds aflembled under the thatch. The meafure of the 
animal is juft two inches and a quarter from note to tail, 
and the tail juft two incites long. Two of them in a fcale 
juft weighed down a copper halfpenny, which is about the 
third of an ounce avoirdupois, So that they may be confi- 
dered as the fmalleft of British quadrupeds. It is repre¬ 
sented, of the natural fize, in the title-page of Shaw’s Gen. 
Zoology, vol. ii. 
The habits of the harveft-moufe are generally fo little 
known, that we need make no apology for inferting the 
enfuing extract from Bingley’s Memoirs of British Qua¬ 
drupeds. “ About the middle of September 1804, I had 
a female harveft-moufe given to me by Mrs. Campbell, of 
Chewton-houfe, Hants. It had been put into a cage im¬ 
mediately when caught, and a few days afterwards pro¬ 
duced eight young ones. I entertained fome hopes that 
the little animal would have nurfed thefe, and brought 
them up; but, having been disturbed in her removal 
about four miles from the country, She began to deftroy 
them, and I took them from her. The young ones, at the 
time I received them, (not more than two or three days 
old,) muft have been at leaft equal in weight to the mother. 
After they were removed, (he foon became reconciled to 
her fituation ; and, when there was no noife, would ven¬ 
ture to come out of her hiding-place, at the extremity of 
the cage, and climb about among the wires of the open 
part, before me. In doing this, I remarked that her tail 
was, in fome meafure, prehenfile; and that, to render her 
hold the more Secure, She generally coiled the extremity 
of it round one of the wires. The toes of all the feet were 
particularly long and flexile, and She could gralp the wires 
very firmly with any of them. She frequently refted on 
her hind-feet, fomewhat in the manner of the jerboa, for 
the purpofe of looking about her ; and in this attitude 
could extend her body at fuch an angle as at firft greatly 
Surprised me. She was a beautiful little animal; and her 
various attitudes, in cleaning her face, head, and body, 
with her paws, were peculiarly graceful and elegant! 
For a few days after I received this moufe, I neglected to 
give it any water ; but, when I afterwards put Some into 
the cage, Site lapped it with great eagernefs. After lap¬ 
ping, She always raised herlel'f on her hind-feet, and 
cleaned her head with her paws. She continued, even till 
the time of her death, exceedingly Shy and timid ; but, 
whenever I put into the cage any favourite food, Such as 
grains of wheat or maize, She would eat them before me. 
On the leaft noife or motion, however, lhe immediately 
ran off, with the grain in her mouth, to her hiding-place. 
One evening, as I was fitting at my writing-deSk, and the 
animal was playing about in the open part of its cage, a 
large 
