usual relative proportions; the tail scaly, long,
and gradually tapering.
We illustrate the genus by the pretty little Harvest Mouse (Mus messorius, Suaw.), the small- est, as we believe, of all quadrupeds ; certainly of such as inhabit this country. The length of its head and body does not exceed two inches and a half, and that of the tail is not quite so much.
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HARVEST MOUSE.
Its colour is a bright reddish brown above; the under parts are pure white. White, of Selbourne, first made it known as a British species, and describes its beautiful globular nest, as “‘ most artificially platted, and composed of the blades of wheat; perfectly round, and about the size of a cricket-ball, with the aperture so ingeniously closed that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well-filled