The Harvest Mouse breeds several times during the year, producing from five to eight or nine young at a birth, and provides for them one of the prettiest cradles formed by any Mammal. It is placed, according to the locality, upon several grass-leaves split and interwoven with the other materials, or suspended at a height of from eighteen inches to three feet above the ground, upon the twigs of some shrub or between several stalks of corn or strong grasses. It is egg-shaped, or nearly round, about the size of the egg of a Goose, and is composed externally of slit leaves of the reeds or grasses among which it is formed, each leaf being carefully divided longitudinally by the sharp teeth of the little architect into six or eight thread-like portions, which are then all woven together, so as to produce a firm structure. The interior is lined, or rather stuffed, with all sorts of soft vegetable substances, so that it has been a question with many observers how the mother could get at all the members of her family to suckle them, and how the nest could contain them all as they began to increase in bulk. The young usually remain in the nest until they can see; but as soon as they are able to provide for themselves, the mother takes them out, gives them some practical instructions in the art of living, and then leaves them to their own devices. According to Brehm, as these Mice increase in age they improve in the art of nest-building. Besides these few species, a multitude of Rats and Mice, belonging to the same genus, occur as natives of nearly all parts of the world, but in their habits they agree in general with the British species. India harbours a considerable number, among which we may mention the BANDICOOT RAT (_Mus bandicota_), a large species, which inhabits the Indian and Malayan peninsulas, and is very destructive in plantations; and the TREE RAT (_Mus arboreus_), a native of Bengal, seven or eight inches in length, which lives partly on grain, of which it lays up stores in its nests, and partly on young cocoa-nuts, which constitute its favourite food, and in search of which it climbs the trees. This species builds a nest on cocoa-nut trees and bamboos, and occasionally makes predatory visits to the houses. The STRIPED MOUSE (_Mus barbarus_) is remarkable for its coloration, its ground colour being a bright yellowish-brown or reddish-yellow, adorned with several longitudinal blackish-brown streaks. This elegant Mouse inhabits Northern Africa, especially in stony places. It is very abundant in Algeria. [Illustration: MOLAR TEETH OF THE HAPALOTE.]