LESSON XXXI.

FIELD-MICE.

1. Some kinds of mice live in the fields and woods, and never come into the house. The tiny little harvest-mouse has its home in the grain or thick grass, and feeds upon grain and insects.

2. It makes a nest of grass neatly woven together, and places it on the stalks, about a foot from the ground, where it is out of the way of the wet.

3. The nest is round, and about the size of a large orange. When the mother mouse goes away, she closes up the door of her nest, so no one can see her little ones.

4. The harvest-mouse runs up the corn and grass stalks easily. In climbing, it holds on by its tail as well as by its claws. The way it comes down from its nest is very curious. It twists its tail about the stalk and slides down.

5. Another of the field-mice is the dormouse, that lives in the woods. It has a bushy tail, and makes its nest in hollow trees. It lives upon nuts and fruit. As cold weather comes on, it rolls itself up in a ball, and sleeps until spring.

6. Once a dormouse was caught and kept in a cage, when it became quite tame, and a great pet with the children. One day it got out of its cage, and the children hunted all over the house, but could not find it, and gave it up as lost.

7. The next day, as they sat down to dinner, a cold meat-pie was put upon the table. When it was cut open, there was the dormouse in the middle, curled up, and fast asleep.

8. The deer-mouse lives mostly in the fields, but it also makes its home in barns and houses. Its back and sides are of a slate color, but the under part of its body, and its legs and feet, are white. It is sometimes called the white-footed mouse, or wood-mouse. It builds a round nest in trees, that looks like a bird's nest, and it lives upon grain, seeds, and nuts.

9. This mouse seems fond of music, and once in a while one sings. Its song is very sweet, somewhat like that of a canary, but not so loud. Mr. Lockwood's singing mouse would keep up its wonderful little song ten minutes without stopping.