MAMMALS 23. House Mouse. Mus muscu/us, Linn. In 1863 or 1864, near Blakemere, where a large wheat rick was being threshed, there were found in it seven or eight half-grown mice, some nearly all white, and all more nearly white than mouse-colour. (Donald Mathews). These may have been the off- spring of an escaped pet white mouse, crossed with the grey one. 24. Wood Mouse or Long-tailed Field Mouse. Mus syhaticus, Linn. Bellamy and Barrett-Hamilton. — Mus sylvatkus intermedius. Mr. Donald Mathews says, ' Most often seen in the heap of swedes stocked in fields to be eaten off by sheep. They used to be very numerous in sandy fields between Blakemere high road and the Holy- well' For information regarding the interbreeding of M. sjhatkus with other mice, and the share it has taken in the production of fancy mice, see a paper by Mr. W. Bateson, M.A., F.Z.S., on the ' Present State of Knowledge of Colour Heredity in Mice and Rats ' ; Proc. Zoo/. Soc. (1903), 71. The facts discussed in this paper are of interest in reference to the position of individuals intermediate between M. sylvatkus in- termedius and M. sylvaticus wintoni. Such have been observed in Sussex." 25. British Yellow-necked Wood Mouse." Barrett-Hamilton. — Mus sylvaticus zvintoni. Capt. Barrett-Hamilton assigns to this mouse the name Mus sylvaticus wintoni, in honour of its discoverer and the English name British yellow-necked mouse in recog- nition of the fact that it differs from the yellow- necked mouse Mus Jiavicollis of Melchior. It is, says Mr. de Winton, slightly less brightly coloured than the Danish mouse. Under the heading Mus sylvati- cus mintoni, sub-sp. nov., Capt. Barrett-Hamilton says : " — ' For the original description of this fine mouse we are indebted to Mr. W. E. de Winton, who discovered it at Graftonbury, Herefordshire. In his anxiety to avoid the rash institution of a new name, he was led to identify it with Melchior's Mus Jiavicollis. Since, however, a series of Long-tailed Field-mice, procured by Mr. Oldfield Thomas at HillerSo, Zea- land, Denmark — a locality almost topotypical of Melchior's Mouse — proved to be different from the present form. . . Mr. de Winton's discovery needs a new name, and I now take the opportunity of con- necting it with its discoverer, to whose excellent field work amongst British Mammals we owe our know- ledge not only of this, but of the Hebridean sub- species.' Mr. de Winton's paper ' On a Neglected Species of British Field Mouse,' appeared in the Zoologist for ^^ V.C.H. SusseXf i, 304. ^^ Both this mouse and the ordinary long-tailed field mouse are beautifully figured in J. G. Millais' Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland, 1905, ii, opposite p. 184. For that Capt. Barrett-Hamilton prefers the English name British wood- mouse, in recognition of the fact that the Mus sjilvaticus to which Linnaeus gave that name is not identical in type with the form found in the British Isles ; while in assigning to it the name Mus sylvaticus intermedius he follows C. J. Bellamy [Nat. Hist, of South Deimn, 195 and 329-30, with woodcut [date 1839]). "Proc. 2oo/. Soc. 1900, p. 456: 'On the Geographical and Individual Variation in Mus sylvaticus and its Allies,' by Capt. G. E. H, Barrett-Hamilton, F.L.S. 1894 (p. 441). He says : 'The richer colouring of the upper parts . . . and the pureness of the white on the under side, with the very distinct line of demarcation, gives this mouse a peculiarly striking appearance ; it is almost as beautiful as a squirrel. Its large ears and wide open prominent eyes, its long tail and hind feet are fully as much developed in propor- tion to its size as in Mus sylvaticus, consequently the measurements are greater. . . The bright fawn- coloured band across the chest distinguishes this mouse at all ages and in all seasons, though in the plumbous- coloured yoang naturally the colour is not so bright ; still the more or less chestnut-tinged dark band is quite noticeable in the smallest mouse that is ever likely to be caught in a trap. . . The distribution of this mouse seems to be very local, and the localities in which it occurs are widely separated. . . At first I was inclined to describe this mouse as peculiar to Herefordshire, it being particularly abundant around Graftonbury, in this county, and also at Bishopstone in the same county, where in 1885 three specimens, now in the National Collection, were obtained by Mr. H. N. Ridley. 'Among two or three hundred skins of Wood Mice, mostly in the Collection now being formed by the efforts of Mr. Oldfield Thomas from all parts of the British Isles and Europe, not one of this species occurred, until about a month ago (i.e. in 1894) one appeared among some skins sent from Oundle by Lord Lilford."' The discovery of this mouse aroused a great deal of interest, and search was made for it elsewhere. It has now been described from Northamptonshire, Sussex, Suffolk, and Northumberland, and also from Surrey.'* Mr. R. Drane, President of the Cardiff Natural History Society for the year 1897, records the capture of the British yellow-necked wood mouse in that year near Goodrich Castle. Being at Goodrich in August for one night he set four traps, and in the morning he was fortunate in finding a specimen of this mouse in two of them. 26. Harvest Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. This appears to be still fairly common in some localities ; but owing to its small size it is not noticed except by keen observers. , Mrs. Gertrude Ley, of Sellack Vicarage, Ross-on- Wye, remembers the finding of a nest in her father's garden at Beechwood some years ago. It was in the upper part of a thistle, or some plant about that height. Near the same place, Beechwood, in the parish of Hope Mansel, two ladles found a harvest mouse in its nest on 22 April, 1907. The nest was on the ground. Another nest was found by the Rev. A. Ley on 1 7 April, 1 907, in a gorse bush at Alt Wint, in the parish of Little Dewchurch. Mrs. Cooper-Key, of Wilton House, Bridstow, Ross-on-Wye, remembers finding a nest in 1882 or 1883, lying on the turf close to her house. It had , evidently been pulled out of some adjacent shrub by a cat. It was composed of grass and was about the size of a cricket-ball. At first sight it appeared to be without an opening, for the grass was drawn tightly together over the entrance, and could be opened out without disturbing the rest of the fabric. It con- is ZooJ. (1894), p. 441. " Ibid. (1903), pp. 266, 311; (1904), p. 245 ; (1906), p. 172 i r.C.H.Sajs. 1,304. 155
