This species of the Mouse-kind has a nose like a mole, and is in general a very harmless, inoffensive little animal, in regard to its preying on any thing: it is much smaller than the house-mouse. The chief mischief done by these vermin is, that in harvest-time they will come home with the corn, remain there and breed. I have known great numbers taken out of a rick; and I once remember half a bushel of these and other Mice caught at one time out of a rick or stand, which is often owing to the farmer’s own negligence and inattention; for you may often see a rick-stand made a nursery, occasioned by putting under it harrows, ploughs, hurdles and props: what avails it then to have a stand to fill the ricks in this manner, and assist the vermin up? You cannot indeed prevent their coming home with the corn, or when rats hop up and down the stand, which they do very easily: the best method, therefore, would be to nail some tin to the props, which would keep the Mice from getting up them; and when once you find they have got to a corn-rick, the best way is to take it in as soon as you can, for these Mice, in one particular, are worse than the rats among the corn, and do a great deal more mischief; for this reason, that they will live a great while without water, only by licking the ends of the straws, while any moisture remains therein, and all the while they remain in the ricks they do infinite prejudice. If it is not convenient to remove the rick, observe the following method; take a quarter of a pound of the best nux vomica, put it into an old saucepan, with three quarts of water, boil it till it comes to two quarts, and put two pounds of treacle to it, in order to overcome the bitter taste of the nux vomica; then take some small earthen pans, into which pour some of this mixture, and set the pans in different places under the eaves of the ricks; the Mice being in want of water, will greedily drink of the mixture, which will kill them; and this method you must continue till they are destroyed.
Before I conclude this account, I cannot help taking notice of a gross blunder, which a certain writer has made in his description of this little vermin, who asserts that it is as large as a rat, of the colour of a weasel, and very mischievous to cattle, and that it will get upon a beast’s back, and make it lame in the chine; and in consequence of the bite, the beast will swell to the heart and die; all which particulars are entirely erroneous; for its size is less than that of the common house-mouse, its colour like the squirrel; and as to the miraculous affair of its killing any beast or cattle, it is of a piece with the rest. On the contrary, I am convinced from long observation, that it feeds on roots, vegetables, and corn, and will not touch flesh on any account.
THE
BLACK SHREW-MOUSE.
This animal has a nose like a mole, and much resembles the red shrew-mouse, last described, except in colour; they are very harmless little creatures, for they seldom come to barns or ricks, their residence being amongst the grass, by the sides of ditches which they feed on. You may often hear them as you are walking along, squeaking by the path’s side, and making a noise something like the grasshopper; but they do not the least mischief that I know of; I thought proper however to mention them, that the reader might know that such a little animal really exists.
THE
GRASS MOUSE.
This Mouse is rather larger than the common Mouse, with a muff-head like a water rat, and a short club tail, looking as if the top was cut off, and has a great deal of the nature and disposition of that animal, for it eats no corn at all, but lives on grass and vegetables; being of a very harmless nature, it is a prey to other vermin, as the water rat is, (such as stoats and weasels) which are the worst enemies it has.
THE
DORMOUSE.
This is a small red Mouse, with a tail like a squirrel, and is the most harmless and inoffensive of all the mouse-tribe. It is a very beautiful tame little animal, and is kept by many persons in small boxes or cages, and fed with crumbs of bread, &c. They have one singular and peculiar quality, which is that of sleeping for several weeks together, without receiving the least sustenance, and appearing all the while as if dead. You may oftentimes find them in dry banks, or in wood, laid up very warm in a nest, in the ground, made with oak-leaves, and always asleep when you discover them.
THE
BAT.
This little animal is half mouse, half bird, having wings something resembling leather, and a head very much like that of the mouse, except that their nose is flatter, and their mouth wider; they keep close in holes all the day and never fly abroad till the evening, and that in the summer time, for which reason they are called in many places, the winged mouse; they live chiefly on flies and other small insects, and dwell in holes under the roofs of houses, churches, barns, old ruinated buildings, and in the holes of hollow trees, where in winter time I have sometimes found several scores of them closely adhering together, in large clusters, and in a torpid state, in which condition they doubtless remain till vivified again by the enlivening warmth of the sun, on the approach of the summer. I have been the more particular in my account and description of the different kinds of Mice, as perhaps many of my readers might be unacquainted, that there are so many distinct species of the mouse-kind.