Fur yellowish brown above; whitish beneath, with a ferruginous spot on the breast: ears more than half the length of the head.

M. sylvaticus, Desm. Mammal, p. 301. Flem. Brit. An. p. 19. Field Mouse, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 120. Wood Mouse, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. n. p. 58. pi. 132.

Dimensions

Length of the head and body three inches nine lines; of the head one inch one line; of the ears seven lines; of the tail three inches seven lines.

Description

Forehead somewhat convex; nose blunt; eyes black, large and prominent; ears oblong-oval, with the anterior margin doubled in at the base, and a projecting lobe opposite to it, this last arising within the auricle near the base of the posterior margin; whiskers very long, measuring one inch two lines. Upper part of the head and body, cheeks, sides, and external portion of the legs, of a tawny gray or yellowish brown colour, each hair being dusky ash from the root upwards throughout two-thirds of its length, then tawny yellow, and lastly (more particularly some longer ones than the others) black at the extremity; under part of the head and body, and inside of the legs, whitish, with here and there a tinge of dusky ash, the hair on these parts being dusky from the root upwards the same as above, but the extremities white; the line of separation between the above colours is tolerably well denned, and the red tinge is most prevalent just at that part; there is also a faint tawny spot upon the breast: tail a little shorter than the body, more slender and tapering than in the M. Musculus; dusky on the upper surface, whitish beneath: toes furnished above with long white hairs extending beyond the claws.

Common in gardens; and is occasionally, though very rarely, found in houses. A larger variety, measuring four inches and a half in length, exclusively of the tail, which is four inches, is sometimes met with in woods. Resides in holes under ground, where it amasses seeds, roots, etc. on which it feeds. Produces nine or ten young at a litter.