. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Mammals; Natural history; Mammifères; Sciences naturelles. 564 THE LEMMING. Hi i; SIK the oarth on wliiih it moves. At one thno, wlieii my eyes were in proper order I liiive fVc(|U('iitly <,'f)nc' into any j:,'rass-ficl(l at random, and amnscd myself liy dcteetinj,' t'lie Field Miee they crept tliioiij^h lh(^ {^ hlailes, and endeavoiirin;,' to watcli Uwui in their silent and almost iniperee])tihle pro-rress. They move so easily throu^di the green herlia<,re that they scarcely stir the hlades ; and are so similar in tlieir colour to
. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Mammals; Natural history; Mammifères; Sciences naturelles. 564 THE LEMMING. Hi i; SIK the oarth on wliiih it moves. At one thno, wlieii my eyes were in proper order I liiive fVc(|U('iitly <,'f)nc' into any j:,'rass-ficl(l at random, and amnscd myself liy dcteetinj,' t'lie Field Miee they crept tliioiij^h lh(^ {^ hlailes, and endeavoiirin;,' to watcli Uwui in their silent and almost iniperee])tihle pro-rress. They move so easily throu^di the green herlia<,re that they scarcely stir the hlades ; and are so similar in tlieir colour to the earth as it shows between the h'aves, that none but a praetiKcd eye can detect them. Tliere is hardly any si<rn to tcdl of its presence, except an undetine(r,sense of sometliiujr red amoii<r the grass, which, unless it bo immediately pounced upon, fades again into brown, and tli" thing is gone. The Cam]iagnol is a water-loving creature, and is oftener found in marshy ground tliaii in meadows which are elevated above the level of the neighboming land's and ditches A dry summer is very trying for tlicse animals, and a long-continued drought is fatal to hundred of them. The Field ^'ole carries its destructive powers even into woods and plantations, and is often the unknown cause by which some clierished young tree has drooped, witliered, ami died. These little animals are good burrowers, and are in the habit of digging into the ground, and nibbling the living roots of trees and .shrubs. .Sometimes the mice attack bark, and, by com])letely stripping it from tlie circumference of the tree, destroy it as ('nectually as if it had been cut down with an axe. Thehe is another species of Field Mouse, in Avhich the tail is nnich longer in proportion and the dimensions are altogether smaller. This is the Bank Yolk, or IUnk Cami-aonol! and must not bo confounded with the Long-tailed Field :\Iouse, which is not a vole at all, but a veritable mouse. At uncertain and dista
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectmammals, booksubjectnaturalhistory
