Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 64

HABITAT.--Dehra Doon.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur long and full, pale, sandy mouse-coloured above, isabelline below; pale on the well-clad limbs, and also on the tail laterally and underneath.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2-3/4 inches; tail, 2-3/4 inches.

NO. 359. MUS BACTRIa.n.u.s.

HABITAT.--Punjab, Kashmir, Candahar, Baluchistan, and Southern Persia.

DESCRIPTION.--Upper parts brown above, with a sandy tinge, more on the head; the longer hairs with a dusky tip; the basal two-thirds deep ash; under-parts and feet white; tail clad thinly with fine whitish hair; the fur in general long, dense, and silky.

SIZE.--Head and body, from 2-1/4 to 3-1/4 inches; tail, about the same.

This is the mouse, I think, that I caught in the house at Simla in 1880. Of eight specimens I got--seven in a cupboard in the dining-room and one in a bath-room--I sent two in spirits to the Indian Museum and brought down to Calcutta three alive, which I kept for about seven months, when they died. I have since then seen living specimens of _M. bactria.n.u.s_ from Kohat, with which they appear to be identical. They also resemble--I speak under correction--_M.

cervicolor_, which is a field mouse found in Bengal. I made the following notes regarding them: Fur very fine, close and silky, rufescent brown, more rufous on the head, isabelline below; feet flesh-coloured, hinder ones large, much larger than those of the English mouse; the hind-quarters are also more powerful; has a very pretty way of sitting up, with the body bent forwards, and its hands clasped in an att.i.tude of supplication. The young mice seem darker both above and below, and are much more shy than the old ones, of which one soon after being caught took bits of cake from my fingers through the bars of its cage. More delicate looking than _Mus urba.n.u.s_, with a much shorter and finer tail; less offensive in smell.

Dr. Anderson got, not long ago, two of these mice in a box from Kohat.

They bore the journey uncommonly well, and were in lively condition when I saw them at the Museum. Whilst we were talking about them, we noticed an act of intelligence for which I should not have given them credit had I not seen it with my own eyes. They were in a box with a gla.s.s front; in the upper left-hand corner was a small sleeping chamber, led up to by a sloping piece of wood. The entrance of this chamber was barred by wires bent into the form of a lady's hair-pin, and pa.s.sed through holes in the roof of the box.

The mice had been driven out, and the sleeping-chamber barred, for they were having their portraits taken. Whilst we were talking we found, to our surprise, that one mouse was inside the chamber, although the bars were down. There seemed hardly s.p.a.ce for it to squeeze through; however, it was driven out, and we went on with our conversation, but found, on looking at the cage again, that our little friend was once more inside, so he was driven out again, and we kept an eye on him. To our great surprise and amus.e.m.e.nt we saw him trot up his sloping board, put his little head on one side, and seize one of the wires, which worked very loosely in its socket, give it a hitch up, when he adroitly caught it lower down, hitched it up again and again till he got it high enough to allow him to slip in underneath, and then he was quite happy once more. He had only been in the box two days, so he was not long in finding out the weak point.

I begin to believe now in rats dipping their tails into oil-bottles, and other wonderful stories of murine sagacity that one reads of.

Mice, are supposed to live from two-and-a-half to three years. I had the English albino above mentioned for three.

NO. 360. MUS CRa.s.sIPES.

_The Large-footed Mouse_ (_Jerdon's No. 188_).

HABITAT.--Mussoorie and, according to Jerdon, the Neilgherries.

DESCRIPTION.--This is stated to be like _M. h.o.m.ourus_, but the difference is well marked in a very much longer tail and much larger feet.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2-3/4 inches; tail, 3/4 inch; hind foot, 3/4 inch.

NO. 361. MUS SUBLIMIS.

HABITAT.--Ladakh, 13,000 feet.

DESCRIPTION.--Brown above; whitish below; the colours gradually blending; fur soft and long; all except the tips dark slaty grey, the terminal portions of the shorter hairs being light brown, and of the longer hairs dark brown; upper whiskers black; lower white; ears oval; feet thinly clad with short light brown hairs; tail with short bristly hairs, dusky brown above, whitish below; tail longer than head and body.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2.6 inches; tail, 3.05; length of hind foot, 0.83 inch.

Mr. Blanford, who named the above species, which was procured in the expedition to Yarkand, is doubtful whether it may not be referable to the last species.

NO. 362. MUS PACHYCERCUS.

HABITAT.--Yarkand.

DESCRIPTION.--Sandy brown above; under-parts white; fur soft and very like _M. bactria.n.u.s_; ears large, rounded, hairy; feet clad above with white hair; soles naked; tail thick, shorter than head and body, and thinly clad with white bristles throughout; skin dark above, pale below; incisors deep yellow.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2.35 inches; tail, 1.9 to 2 inches.

Mr. Blanford says this is a house mouse. It is figured in Blanford's 'Mammalia of the Second Yarkand Mission.'

NO. 363. MUS ERYTHRONOTUS.

HABITAT.--Yarkand, Persia.

DESCRIPTION.--Rufous, washed with blackish above, white below, abruptly separated; hairs on the back are slaty at the base, then blackish and bright ferruginous at the tips, the extreme points being black, except on the sides, where the black tip is wanting; upper whiskers black, lower white; ears large, rounded, naked; feet white above, dusky and naked below; tail equal to head and body, nearly naked. Mammae six.

SIZE.--Head and body, 4 inches; tail, 4.2 inches.

This mouse is figured and carefully described in Blanford's 'Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 35.

NO. 364. MUS CERVICOLOR.

_The Fawn-coloured Field Mouse_.

HABITAT.--Bengal, Nepal, Southern India.

DESCRIPTION.--"Distinguished by its short tail. Above dull fawn, below sordid white; lining of ears and extremities pale" (_Blyth_).

"Ears large, hairy" (_Jerdon_). Of the specimens I have seen the fur is soft and of a light sandy brown above and white below, very like _M. bactria.n.u.s_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 2-7/8 inches.

NO. 365. MUS TERRICOLOR.

_The Earth-coloured Field Mouse_.

HABITAT.--India generally, I think. It has been found in the valley of the Ganges, in Bengal, in the Santal district west of Midnapore, and Southern India.

DESCRIPTION.--The colour varies according to the soil, but in general fawn brown, more or less rufescent--those from the valley of the Ganges being darker than those from the ferruginous soil of other parts. The under-parts are white, abruptly separated from the brown; fur short and soft.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2-1/2 inches; tail, 2-1/8 inches.

NO. 366. MUS PEGUENSIS.

_The Pegu Field Mouse_.

HABITAT.--The valley of the Sitang River, Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--"Fur very full and dense, pale fulvescent olive brown on the upper parts, slightly yellowish-white below; whiskers remarkably long" (_Blyth_). Tail longer than head and body, and well clad with hairs, especially towards the tip.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/8 inches; tail, nearly 4 inches.