The =Common Mouse= (_Mus musculus_). Back yellowish grey-black,
gradually shading into a somewhat lighter tint on the under side.
[Illustration:
FIG. 22.—The Long-tailed Field Mouse (_Mus sylvaticus_).
]
The =Wood Mouse=, or =Long-tailed Field Mouse= (_M. sylvaticus_). Back a
brown shade of yellowish grey; belly white, sharply marked off;
relatively very long hind legs, hence a hopping gait. The long-tailed
field mouse penetrates tolerably far into woods, but is also found in
plantations and gardens, sometimes also in quite treeless regions. On
arable land it may adopt the habits of the field vole (p. 42), but as it
does not multiply so rapidly is not nearly so injurious. It may also
live either for a short time or permanently in houses, adopting the same
habits as the common mouse.
The =Harvest Mouse= (_M. minutus_). Small, pretty; back yellowish brown
red, belly of a sharply marked-off white. Lives in cornfields during the
summer; in harvest time by the field-paths; during winter in barns and
haystacks, but also in outdoor nests in the fields. Climbs among the
grass and corn-haulms, and the small stems and branches of other plants,
including shrubs, holding fast, not only by the feet, but also by the
tail. Builds a beautiful spherical nest with a side entrance out of the
haulms and leaves of grass and corn, or out of other leaves. Devours
seeds, especially grain, oats being the favourite.
The =Corn Mouse= (_M. agrarius_). Back brownish red with longitudinal
black stripes. In plains east of the Rhine. Usually local, but then very
abundant. Chiefly in cornfields and fruitfields; digs holes in the soil.
In autumn it often occurs in the field in large colonies. Food: grain,
beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots. In winter in the barns and
dwelling-houses of farmers.
[Illustration:
FIG. 23.—Upper Back Teeth of Brown Rat, seen from grinding surface.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 24.—Upper Back Teeth of Water Vole, seen from grinding surface.
]
Regarding the means of destroying those mice which are sometimes
damaging to agriculture (_M. sylvaticus_ and _M. minutus_), see methods
mentioned under “Field-vole” (p. 43).
Family: =Arvicolidæ= (_Vole Family_).
The large voles are also popularly called “rats,” the smaller ones
“mice.” They closely resemble the true mice and rats (p. 38), but are
distinguished from them by their plumper, more compressed body; a
thicker head with blunt snout, and ears quite hidden in the fur; and a
short, tolerably hairy tail, on which no rings of scales can be
distinguished. There are on each side of each jaw three back teeth, of
which each appears to consist of two rows of three-sided prisms, fused
together along the middle line (cp. Figs. 24 and 23). The native species
all belong to the genus _Arvicola_; the Bank Vole (_Arvicola
glareolus_), the Water Rat, or Water Vole (_A. amphibius_), and the
Short-tailed Field Mouse, or Field Vole (_A. agrestis_).
The brownish-red =Bank Vole= (_A. glareolus_) occurs in forests.
The =Water Rat=, or =Water Vole= (_A. amphibius_). Body six inches long,
tail half the length of the body. Fur of one colour, brighter on the
under side, varying from brownish grey to brownish black on the back,
and from whitish to greyish black on the belly. On the banks of rivers,
brooks, ditches, canals, etc.; also on damp low-lying meadows and
fields. Digs much-branched passages in the soil; this often takes place
in embankments to such an extent that it finally leads to their complete
destruction. The vole also does damage in grass-fields and cornfields in
the same way as the mole (p. 33). In its case, however, there is no
compensating service. It certainly eats insects and worms, but its chief
food is of vegetable nature; grain, potatoes, turnips, and carrots are
devoured by it in large quantity, and in particular stored up in its
hiding-place. It also destroys the roots of grass and corn, and eagerly
devours chickens and the eggs of ducks and geese. A variety (_A.
amphibius_, var. _terrestris_) occurs in dry soils, and is distinguished
by its smaller size, lighter colour, and shorter tail. Its habits are
the same as those of the ordinary form, but it is more given to
attacking trees.
Traps, shooting, poisoning with celery stumps hollowed out and filled
with phosphorus, or else with phosphorus paste.
The =Field Vole=, or =Short-tailed Field Mouse= (_A. agrestis_). A small
animal, with dark brownish grey back and greyish white belly. [Lives in
pastures, especially those which are low-lying and damp. Large numbers
are found together, and they make deep burrows in the soil, each pair
having a special nest to themselves. Three, four, or even more litters
per year; four to ten young in each litter. Its favourite food consists
of roots, young shoots of grass, etc., and the tender bark of shrubs,
but nothing of vegetable nature comes amiss. Specially destructive in
permanent pasture.]
REMEDIES. (_a_) _Preventive measures_. Protection of its natural enemies
(weasel, stoat, polecat, fox, hedgehog, owls, buzzards, kestrels, the
smaller seagulls). Catching in traps, etc., in the spring, when the
voles are only present in small numbers.
(_b_) _Destructive measures_, which should be as generally used as
possible in infested districts. If a field has been completely
devastated, or the crop is over: (1) Working the soil with a spiked
roller; (2) Partial inundation of the lower-lying fields. If it is
desired to kill the voles and spare the crop as well, the following
means may be recommended: (1) The digging of cylindrical holes six
inches across and two feet deep, especially at the margins of the fields
and in the furrows, as well as—at harvest time—on any footpaths that may
be found. The voles fall into these holes, cannot get out again, and are
starved. (2) The employment of poisons. (Care must be taken that no
children or domestic animals are poisoned.) Phosphorus paste is best.
[Illustration:
FIG. 25.—The Southern Field Vole (_Arvicola arvalis_).
]
The =Southern Field Vole= (_A. arvalis_) plays the same destructive
part on the Continent that the preceding form does here (Fig. 25).
_Remedies_—see above.
ORDER: =Ruminantia= (CUD-CHEWING MAMMALS).
The feet end in two hoof-covered toes, besides which two “after toes”
are present. The upper incisors are absent, with few exceptions, but
many deer have canines in the upper jaw. The back teeth of Ruminants are
compound teeth. The lower jaw is smaller than the upper, and during
chewing undergoes lateral movements, so that the plants taken in as food
are ground up, as it were, into small pieces, between the projecting
enamel ridges of the upper and lower back teeth. The stomach consists of
four subdivisions; these are (1) the rumen, or paunch, where the greater
part of the food and water taken collects; (2) the reticulum, or
honey-comb stomach; (3) the psalterium, or manyplies; (4) the abomasum,
reed, or rennet stomach. The last is the second largest part, and in it
the same chemical changes take place as in the simple stomach of a
non-ruminant. After the food has remained for some time in the paunch it
passes up again through the gullet, and [as the “cud”] undergoes a
second chewing. The soft mass resulting is once more swallowed, and
passes into the psalterium and abomasum.
[Illustration:
FIG. 26.—Skull of a Sheep.
]
Not only the families of _Tylopoda_ (Camels, Llamas), and
_Camelopardalidæ_ (Giraffes), but also the large family of _Cavicornia_,
to which, amongst others, the ox, sheep, and goat belong, will be passed
over in this book. I need only mention the—
Family: =Cervidæ= (_Deer Family_).
Deer have branched horns, known as antlers. With the solitary exception
of the reindeer, they are only found in the males. They are bony
structures borne upon projecting knobs (horn cores) of the frontal
lines. After each rutting-season the antlers are cast, new ones, clothed
at first with a soft skin [the “velvet”], are developed. Before the next
rutting-season the dermal part of the skin unites firmly with the
underlying antler, and becomes itself ossified, while the epidermis
shrivels up, partly peels off in bits, and is partly rubbed off by the
animal against tree trunks. If the conditions of life (food, weather)
are favourable, the animal acquires a new side branch to each antler
every year, at any rate, so long as he continues to get bigger and
stronger. The one-year-old male (“brocket”) has therefore a simple
unbranched antler, the two-year-old (“spayad”) one side branch as well,
the three-year-old (“sorel”) three points in all; the four-year-old
(“staggard”) has four points; the five-year-old (“stag”) five, and so
on.
[Illustration:
FIG. 27.—Development of Roebuck Antlers.
]
In Britain two indigenous deer are found—the Red Deer (_Cervus elaphus_)
and the Roebuck (_C. capreolus_); a third species, the Fallow Deer (_C.
dama_), lives in South Europe and Asia Minor [and the exact date of its
introduction into Britain is not known].
The =Red Deer= (_Cervus elaphus_). Six to seven feet long, and four feet
high. Antlers rough and cylindrical for their entire length; each in its
normal condition has two front branches [“brow” and “bez-tyne”], a
middle branch [“tres”], and a “crown.” Tail small. Body of a brownish
colour, becoming red in summer. A light yellowish brown spot on the
tail. Male larger than the female, with long dark hairs on the neck
during the breeding season (autumn). The young (“calves”) are spotted
with white till their first change of coat in October. The hind brings
forth one or rarely two calves in May or the beginning of June. The stag
sheds his antlers at the end of February; the new ones are already
full-grown in July. So long as they are growing the stag keeps to the
low woods, and first seeks the high-lying forests when they are
completed. He only leaves the forest for any length of time during the
breeding season, but, wherever possible, comes to the field for a short
time every evening to feed on cabbages, peas, beans, young corn, clover,
lupines, grass, etc. Turnips, carrots, and potatoes, dug out of the
ground by the fore legs, are also devoured. In this way red deer do a
great deal of damage, not only directly in feeding, but also, to a
larger extent, by trampling down the crops. In autumn and winter they
chiefly feed on acorns, beechnuts, buds and young shoots of various
trees. They also peel the bark from young trees, and often cause damage
while rubbing the remains of the velvet from their antlers. Red deer are
injurious to agriculture and forestry. Suitable fencing of fields,
gardens, etc., to be protected.
The =Roebuck= (_Cervus capreolus_) measures up to three and a half feet
long, and about two feet high. Antlers (Fig. 27) only slightly branched,
and rough all over; beams and branches cylindrical. No brow-tynes, and
usually only three branches. Tail extremely small and inconspicuous.
Legs long and slender. Summer coat greyish brown, passing over to a
reddish tint; the longer winter coat brownish grey. A whitish patch on
the rump. The young (“fawns”) have at first white spots on a brownish
ground.
Breeding season in August. The female (“doe”) brings forth her two fawns
in May or June. The roebuck keeps principally to the lower and middle
forests, especially in places where glades, rich in grass and herbage,
and cornfields or meadows alternate with woodland. In the evening it
comes out of the cover to eat in the fields and meadows; towards morning
it withdraws again. The roebuck devours both young corn and corn in the
ear; also ears of millet, beans, peas, clover, and lupines. It does not
appear to touch potatoes and turnips. The bucks in particular do much
mischief by trampling about in cornfields.
The =Fallow Deer= (_Cervus dama_) is about four feet long and three feet
high; antlers rough and cylindrical only towards the root, with
tolerably smooth, flat, shovel-like ends. Old individuals are pale
brown, the summer coat is reddish and brightly spotted; belly whitish; a
white patch on the tail. The young have sharply marked bright spots. In
its habits this non-indigenous species agrees in many respects with the
red deer, but changes its abode less. Towards evening it eagerly leaves
the forest in order to seek its food in the cornfields. As the fallow
deer lives in large herds its trampling does much damage.
ORDER: =Multungula= or =Pachydermata= (MANY-HOOFED OR THICK-SKINNED
MAMMALS).
Non-ruminating hoofed animals with thick, often callous, naked, or
scantily haired, frequently bristly skin and with three to five toes,
which, though they are not all developed to the same extent, are yet
never rudimentary. The various species are very unlike one another as to
food and dentition. Here belong domesticated swine, and a single
species—formerly occurring wild in Britain—
The =Wild Boar= (_Sus scrofa_). On each foot four toes, of which the
two hinder are small and do not usually touch the ground. The wild
boar agrees in the general conformation of its body with the common
domesticated swine. Six incisors in upper and lower jaw; the lower
ones forwardly directed. The canines, which are more developed in
boars than sows, curve outwards and upwards in both jaws as “tusks.”
On each side of each jaw seven tuberculated back teeth completely
covered with enamel. Length of the body 5 feet 10 inches; length of
tail 1 foot 8 inches. Colour: black and rusty brown. The young ones
are white, spotted and striped with dark brown. The wild boar likes
damp, swampy, but at the same time thickly overgrown districts, where
it remains hidden in the day, only seeking the fields and meadows when
it has become dark and quite still. It then chiefly feeds on turnips,
carrots, and potatoes, rooting them out of the ground; it also devours
leguminous crops and grain, but treads down far more of these plants
than it eats. Besides this, it also feeds on acorns, beechnuts,
hazel-nuts, and truffles. The wild boar does some service by devouring
snails, worms, insect larvæ living in the soil, and also the pupæ of
destructive species of caterpillars, which occur in the same
situation; also voles. Thick hedges, in order to protect the corn from
injury.
ORDER: Solidungula (SINGLE-HOOFED MAMMALS),
to which the horse and the ass belong, need not be dealt with here;
still less the other orders enumerated on p. 23.