for that species. There are several litters of young during the year, and these vary in number from five to nine--an alarming rate of increase; but, fortunately, the Barn Owl that hunts the hedgerow inch by inch, every evening, takes a heavy toll that keeps the numbers down. The Fox, the Weasel, the Hedgehog, and the Viper also do their part. The Wood Mouse is a very active creature, running and jumping in zigzag fashion, climbing high in the bushes in order to obtain berries, leaping from considerable heights, and swimming well when occasion requires. Although an accomplished excavator, it often makes use of unmortared stone walls for its runs and stores. It wanders widely in its search for berries, bulbs, and grain. In the matter of berries, it is not the juicy pulp that it desires but the seeds, which it will carefully pick out. It prefers the larger grains from the cornfield to those of a grass-meadow. It is both timid and gentle in disposition, and on account of its short sight, it may be approached closely and caught with the hand. [Illustration: _Pl. 58._ _G 90._ *House Mice.* A fierce battle between rival males.] [Illustration: _Pl. 59._ _G 91._ *Wood Mouse.* Apodemus sylvaticus.] Its stores of food are often communal, a colony of mice contributing, for it is not always of solitary habit. These stores are of the most varied character. Of the very miscellaneous items on its menu a few may be mentioned: leaves of clover and dandelion, with flower-buds of the latter, nuts of all kinds, apples, grapes, gooseberries, crocus and hyacinth bulbs (Millais says the Dutch were taught to multiply hyacinths by division of the bulbs through observing the effects of this mouse's attacks), acorns, rose and bramble seeds, slow-worms, eggs and--putty! It has been known to enter beehives, and not only to eat the honeycomb, but impudently to construct its nest there. Deserted birds' nests are often adapted to its use, either as a dining-room when seeking haws in the hedges, or as a permanent habitation, in this case roofed with moss. The breeding nest is a globular structure of dry grass, and is usually built in a separate chamber of the underground run, but occasionally is on the surface or under a heap of hedge _débris_. Some of the burrows may extend as much as three feet underground. * * * * *