MICROMYS MINUTUS
Harvest mouse
  Classification Order Rodentia, Family Muridee.

Description The coat is reddish yellow dorsally, and white on the underside. The eyes are of average size. The ears are round. The hind feet have 5 toes, the front feet only 4. Length of head and body 58-76 cm (2.3-3 in), tail 51-72 mm (2-2.9 in); weight 5-9 9 (0.2-0.3 oz).
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  Distribution Europe (except Ireland, Spain and Scandina-viS), Siberia, Chins, and Taiwan.

Habitat Fields of grain (temporarily), terrain with tall grass.

Behaviour The harvest mouse feeds on seeds, grain, and sometimes insects. It is active by day and by night. It climbs nimbly up and down the stalks of tall grass, where it builds ifs round, birdlike nest. It uses its tail, which is partly prehensile, to help it climb. When building its nest it uses leaves and stalks. which it tears oft with its teeth For the winter it builds either a larger nest situated higher up the stalk or a nest under the ground. If does not hibernate, but survives the winter on food it has stored. Gestation lasts about 21 days and there can be several litters a year, each with 3-7 young, which nurse for about 18 days. The sound if emits is shrill, almost like a shriek.

Note The most common and generalized ratS and mice of the Old World (and introduced elsewhere) belong to the subfamily Murinse