Then in came Dora, 'It had a long tail, and was very little, and made
no noise at all.'
4. 'It may have been a mouse,' said their mother; 'very likely it was.'
'But mice live indoors, do they not, and eat cheese, and run about in
the walls, and make holes?'
5. 'How do you know all this?'
'I have heard them at grandmother's,' said Harry. 'Do they ever live out
of doors?'
6. 'A good many do. There is a pretty little thing called a
harvest-mouse. It makes a nest like a bird's, and hangs it up on a stalk
of wheat.'
[Illustration: The Harvest Mouse and Nest.]
7. 'I wish there had been one in our wheat!' said Dora. 'I should like
to see the little nest and the baby-mice peeping out. They must be very,
very small.'
8. 'Yes, the harvest-mouse is the very smallest four-footed animal we
have. Then there is a field-mouse with a long tail, and a field-mouse
with a short tail. Mr Short-tail likes to nibble at young trees.'
'Ah, that is not our mouse! He had a long tail.'
9. 'And then there is a wood-mouse.'
'Has he a short tail or long tail?' asked Harry.
'Long. I must tell you about a man who used to go out in the night in
wild places to see what birds and beasts were doing when most of us
were in bed.
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