Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/222

212 usual relative proportions; the tail scaly, long, and gradually tapering.

We illustrate the genus by the pretty little Harvest Mouse (Mus messorius, .), the smallest, as we believe, of all quadrupeds; certainly of such as inhabit this country. The length of its head and body does not exceed two inches and a half, and that of the tail is not quite so much.

HARVEST MOUSE.

Its colour is a bright reddish brown above; the under parts are pure white. White, of Selbourne, first made it known as a British species, and describes its beautiful globular nest, as "most artificially platted, and composed of the blades of wheat; perfectly round, and about the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture so ingeniously closed that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well-filled