Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/377

Rh fallen leaves in a regular line: they were probably collecting the hazel and beech nuts for their store of winter food.—W. Hewett.

Note on the Nest of the Harvest-mouse. I have been much pleased at finding the nest of a harvest-mouse within the last few days, corresponding exactly with White's description (Zool. 291). Jt was composed of blades of dry grass and wheat, and of an oval form. I was walking along a green road, about a mile from Ilsley, and observed at least eight of these little mice sitting basking in the sun, on the branches of the wild Clematis. On seeing me, however, they all ran away, being nearly full grown. After much search I discovered their curious nest, which was built in the boughs of the Clematis, about two feet above the ground. In the centre was a small orifice for the entrance, and at the sides two other lesser apertures, from which I conclude that Mr. White was right in his supposition, that the dam opens different places for the purpose of administering a teat to each young one, adjusting them again when the business is over. This conclusion he came to, not from seeing the smaller apertures (for these he had never observed), but because he considered that the dam could not be contained in the same nest with her young, which certainly seems impossible. The weight of one of these little mice which I captured, scarcely exceeded a drachm.—Id.

Note on the Harvest Mouse. Mr. Bell, in his 'History of British Quadrupeds,' mentions very few counties as the ascertained habitats of the harvest-mouse. I imagine it to be far more generally distributed throughout the country, although its appearance has not hitherto been recorded. To Mr. Bell's list of counties I can add Kent and Sussex; since in my native parish in the weald of Kent, adjoining Sussex, I have known the harvest mouse so numerous in wheat-stacks as to have committed considerable ravages, notwithstanding their diminutive size. I have repeatedly seen their nests in the long grass near the hedges of stubble fields, though I cannot, from recollection, speak confidently of any counties but the two above named. This little mouse is amusing in confinement. It is very cleanly, free from the offensive smell of the house-mouse, and will become tame enough to take flies (which it is fond of) or grain from the hands of persons it is accustomed to; but it makes its appearance principally in the evening. It eats like a squirrel, while sitting on a perch in the cage. — Arthur Hussey; Rottingdean, Sussex, August, 1843.

Note on the occurrence of the Harvest Mouse in Lancashire. Many specimens of this mouse have been found by the reapers during the last month, (September, 1843). When Mr. Thomas Chapman, of the Dungeon farm, Hutton, was erecting sheaves after his reapers, his attention was arrested by a peculiar sound issuing from one of them. On examination, this was found to proceed from the nest of a common fieldmouse, as they are here called. It was situated about eighteen inches above the band of the sheaf, and contained nine young ones. He afterwards found two other similar nests, similarly situated, and both likewise containing young. They had been ingeniously constructed on the standing wheat (see the figure of the mice and their nest, Zool. 289) at a height of four feet from the ground. It is surprising that the wheat could be cut and the sheaves bound up without the reapers observing the nests, and without any injury being done to the little creatures or their airy habitations. Many of these nests have been found this year at Nateby, near Garstang, in hay-grass, as well as in the standing corn.— M. Saul; Fort Green Cottage, Garstang, October, 1843.

Anecdote of a Red Deer. As an instance of that wonderful spirit of sociality mentioned by White, I may mention that a fine red deer passed through this town with a regiment of soldiers, walking as stately and orderly as possible with the band, and ap-