Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 63

SIZE.--Head and body, from 2-1/2 to 3 inches; tail one-half longer than the combined length of body and head.

Jerdon says of this pretty little mouse that "it is most abundant in the south of India, where it frequents trees, and very commonly palm-trees, on which it is said to make its nest generally. It, however, occasionally places its nest in the thatch of houses, on beams, &c. It is very active, and from its habits difficult to procure" ('Mammals of India,' p. 202). According to Sykes it constructs its nest of oleraceous herbs in the fields, and Hodgson states it to tenant woods and coppices in Nepal.

NO. 351. MUS NILAGIRICUS.

_The Neilgherry Tree Mouse_ (_Jerdon's No. 185_).

HABITAT.--Ootacamund.

DESCRIPTION.--"Above deep but bright chestnut brown, beneath bright fawn yellow, with a distinct line of demarcation between the two colours; head rather elongated; ears long, oval; tail somewhat hairy."--_Jerdon_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/2 inches; tail, 5 inches.

This tree mouse was discovered and named by Dr. Jerdon. He says: "The first I observed was brought into the house by a cat. I afterwards, on two or three occasions, found the nest, a ma.s.s of leaves and gra.s.s, on shrubs and low trees, from four to five feet from the ground, and on one occasion it was occupied by at least eight or ten apparently full-grown mice."

NO. 352. MUS BADIUS.

_The Bay Tree Mouse_.

HABITAT.--The valley of the Sittang, Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--"Similar to _M. oleraceus_, but with the eye fully twice as large, and black whiskers; colour of the upper parts a more rufous chestnut or cinnamon hue, of the lower parts white, almost pure."--_Blyth_.

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

NO. 353. MUS GLIROIDES.

_The Cherrapoonjee Tree Mouse_.

HABITAT.--Khasia hills.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur exceedingly dense and fine, of a light brown, tinged with fawn; the basal two-thirds of the piles are dusky ash coloured; the lower parts are white, very faintly tinged with fawn; the white purest about the lips and chin; whiskers long; feet large and spa.r.s.ely clad with white hairs; a distinct brown mark on each hind foot reaching almost to the division of the toes; ears smallish, ovoid, naked.

SIZE.--Head and body, 2 inches; tail (?) mutilated.

Blyth says this animal has much of the aspect of the European dormouse (_Myoxus avellanarius_), but nothing is said about its dent.i.tion, which would at once settle the question whether the young specimen with its imperfect tail were a true _Mus_ or a species of _Myoxus_.[24]

[Footnote 24: See Appendix A for description and dent.i.tion of _Myoxus_.]

NO. 354. MUS PEGUENSIS.

_The Pegu Tree Mouse_.

HABITAT.--The Sittang valley, Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.--Fulvescent olive brown on the upper parts, yellowish-white below; whiskers remarkably long; the tail very long and conspicuously haired towards the tip; more so, Blyth remarks, than any other mouse, especially when held up to the light.

SIZE.--Head and body, 3-1/8 inches; tail, 3-7/8; in one specimen, 4-1/2 inches.

We now come to the terrestrial or house mice.

NO. 355. MUS URBa.n.u.s.

_The Common Indian Mouse_ (_Jerdon's No. 186_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Lengtia-indur_, Bengali; _Mesuri_, _Musi_, _Chuhi_, Hindi.

HABITAT.--Throughout India and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.--Somewhat resembling the English mouse, but with very much longer, coa.r.s.er tail, larger eyes, and smaller ears; dusky reddish-brown above, somewhat paler below; the feet paler still, whitish in some; the tail nude, thick at base, longer by an inch than the head and body, and of a dark brown colour. The young are more dusky.

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

I have kept these mice in confinement for considerable periods, and have had many opportunities of studying their habits of late. During many years' residence in the Currency Office, I never once found a mouse in my private quarters on the third story, although I frequently observed them in the vaults and strong rooms on the ground floor. During my absence at Simla in 1880 my quarters were unoccupied, as the Public Works Department were giving the building a thorough repair. It was then, I suppose, a few of the mice from the ground floor were driven upstairs, and, being unmolested by us, as we liked to see the little things playing about, they increased to a most uncomfortable extent within eight months. I failed to discover their breeding places, though I suspect they made much use of a large doll's-house for the purpose, for on taking out the front staircase, under which the bells of the establishment were hung, I found a nest of torn paper, and I caught two young ones in one of the rooms. Some of them came out every night whilst we were at dinner, and paid a visit to a rose-headed parraquet (_Palaeornis rosa_), mounting up on Polly's perch, and sitting down to supper in the tin receptacles for food at each end. She generally treated them with silent contempt, or gave a snappish little peck if they were too familiar; sometimes, when they were too sky-larky, she retreated to her ring above, where she swung and looked down at them from a coign of vantage. Their agility in running up and down the wires of a cage is marvellous.

They have also an extraordinary faculty for running up a perpendicular board, and the height from which they can jump is astounding. One day, in my study, I chased one of these mice on to the top of a book-case. Standing on some steps, I was about to put my hand over him, when he jumped on to the marble floor and ran off.

I measured the height, and have since measured it again, 8 feet 9-1/2 inches.

I consider this species the most muscular of all mice of the same size. I have had at the same time in confinement an English mouse (albino), a Bengal field mouse, and house mice from Simla of another species, and none of them could show equal activity. I use, for the purpose of taming mice, a gla.s.s fish-globe, out of which none of the other mice could get, but I have repeatedly seen specimens of _M.

urba.n.u.s_ jump clear out of the opening at the top. They would look up, gather their hind quarters together, and then go in for a high leap. They are much more voracious than the Simla or other mice. The allowance of food given would be devoured in less than half the time taken by the others, and they are more given to gnawing. What sort of mothers they are in freedom I know not, but one which produced four young ones in one of my cages devoured her offspring before they were a week old. I have two before me just now as I write, and they have had a quarrel about the highest place on a little grated window.

The larger one got the advantage, so the other seized hold of her tail, and gave it a good nip.

Now we come to some doubtful species, doubtful in the sense that they should not be separated, but considered as one to be named afterwards, according to priority of discovery. Dr. Anderson is at present investigating the matter, and we must await his decision, but from such external observations as I have been able to make, it appears probable that the following will prove identical:--

_Mus h.o.m.ourus_; _Mus Darjeelingensis_; _Mus Tytleri_; _Mus Bactria.n.u.s_; _Mus cervicolor_(?)--_Jerdon's Nos. 187, 189, 190, 191, and 192_. These are all hill mice, except the last, and found under the same conditions.

NO. 356. MUS h.o.m.oURUS.

HABITAT.--Lower Himalayan range.

DESCRIPTION.--Dark rufescent above, rufescent white below; hands and feet fleshy white; tail equal to length of head and body; "fur more gerbille-like in character than in _M. musculus_" (or _urba.n.u.s_), stated to be the common house mouse of the Himalayan hill stations from the Punjab to Darjeeling. Stated by Hodgson to have eight teats only in the female, other mice having ten. Possibly his description was founded on young specimens. I myself was of opinion for some time that I had got two species of hill mice, a larger and a smaller, the latter being so much darker in colour, but I kept them till the young ones attained full size in six months, at which time they were not distinguishable from the old ones. Hodgson may have overlooked the pectoral mammae when he noted the number.

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

NO. 357. MUS DARJEELINGENSIS.

DESCRIPTION.--Dusky brown, with a slight chestnut reflection; under-parts pale yellowish-white.

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

NO. 358. MUS TYTLERI.