Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon

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 space 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 amusement 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 CRASSIPESThe Large-footed Mouse (Jerdon's No. 188)

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

DESCRIPTION.—This is stated to be like M. homourus, but the difference is well marked in a very much longer tail and much larger feet.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2¾ inches; tail, ¾ inch; hind foot, ¾ 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. bactrianus; 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. Mammæ 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 CERVICOLORThe 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. bactrianus.

SIZE.—Head and body, 3½ inches; tail, 2-7/8 inches.

NO. 365. MUS TERRICOLORThe 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, 2½ inches; tail, 2-1/8 inches.

NO. 366. MUS PEGUENSISThe 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.

NO. 367. MUS NITIDULUSThe Shiny Little House Mouse of Pegu

HABITAT.—The Sitang valley in Burmah.

DESCRIPTION.—The description given of this mouse by Blyth is extremely vague. He says: "A house mouse apparently, with tail equal to head and body, and uniformly furnished with minute setæ to the end; ears large and ample; colour nearly that of M. decumanus, with the under-parts subdued white, tolerably well defined."

He remarks further on that the front teeth are conspicuously larger than those of M. musculus and M. urbanus.

SIZE.—Head and body, 3¼ inches; tail, the same.

NO. 368. MUS BEAVENIBeaven's Mouse

HABITAT.—Maubhum, and, according to Blyth's Catalogue, Burmah, valley of the Salween.

DESCRIPTION.—"Above rusty brown, medially black; lips and the whole under side pale ochraceous; feet white, all the hair being slate coloured at the base; tail above brown, below with white hairs; upper whiskers black, lower white. Rather smaller and more delicately built than our common harvest mouse."—Prof. Peters, 'P. Z. S.' 1866, p. 559.

NO. 369. MUS CUNICULARISThe Little Rabbit-Mouse

HABITAT.—Cherrapunji, Assam.

DESCRIPTION.—"A small field (?) mouse, remarkable for its ample ears and tail shorter than head and body; colour of a wild rabbit above, below white; and the feet with brownish hairs above, but with white hairs upon the toes; tail conspicuously ringed; the setæ minute and inconspicuous."—Blyth.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2½ inches; tail, 2-1/8 inches; ears posteriorly half an inch.

NO. 370. MUS ERYTHROTISThe Cherrapunji Red-eared Mouse

HABITAT.—Cherrapoonji, Assam.

DESCRIPTION.—A small mouse with very deep soft fur, very long and silky, of a rich dark brown colour, grizzled and brightly tinged with rufous or rufo-ferruginous towards the tail, and upon the ears conspicuously. In such spirit specimens as I have seen the colour was darker than in life, but the soft silkiness of the fur could be seen to advantage as it floated in the clear liquid; the lower parts are whitish, tinged with fawn; feet with brown hairs above; ears small and hirsute, and the tail is also hairy.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2¼ inches; tail, 2-3/8 inches.

NO. 371. MUS FULVIDIVENTRIS

HABITAT.—Ceylon, Trincomalee.

DESCRIPTION.—This is a small mouse very like Mus cervicolor, or perhaps M. terricolor, which it more nearly approaches in size. Kellaart in his 'Prodromus,' calls it cervicolor, but Blyth afterwards separated it under the name given above, though after all I think he was doubtful whether it ought to have been so distinguished. The fur is long, soft, and glossy, fulvous fawn brown above, paler below; feet dingy grey.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2-9/10 inches; tail, 2-5/10 inches.

NO. 372. MUS KAKHYENENSISThe Kakhyen Mouse

HABITAT.—Burmo-Chinese frontier, Ponsee.

DESCRIPTION.—Differs from Mus urbanus by its shorter tail, longer hind feet, and larger ears; muzzle moderately deep, and short; ears large and rounded; fur long, dense, and soft, reddish-brown on the upper parts, with a dark speckled appearance due to the stronger hairs having broad brown tips; sides of the head dusky greyish; chin to vent and under-parts greyish-white, with a silvery sheen; feet dusky pale brown; ears and upper surface of tail dark brown, under surface of tail pale brown.—Anderson.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2·90 inches; tail, 3·36 inches.

This mouse was discovered and named by Dr. Anderson, who procured one example at Ponsee, where it occurs, he says, on the old rice and Indian corn clearings. The next species is also a new one discovered and named by him.

NO. 373. MUS VICULORUMThe Kakhyen House Mouse

HABITAT.—The Burmo-Chinese frontier, Ponsee.

DESCRIPTION.—Muzzle rather sharply pointed, moderately long and not deep; ears moderately large, rounded; its height a little in excess of the distance between the inner canthus and the front of the muzzle; hind-feet not long; tail a little longer than the body and head, finely ringed, five rings to one-tenth of an inch; fur soft, short, dense, dull dark brown on the upper parts, tending to blackish on the back, paling to brownish on the sides, and passing into pale dusky brownish on the under parts with a silvery sheen; feet brownish; toes with shining greyish-yellow hairs; ears and tail brown. (See Anderson's 'Anat. and Zool. Res.,' p. 308.)

SIZE.—Head and body, 2-9/10 inches; tail, 3·14 inches.

This species, according to Dr. Anderson, frequents the villages and houses of the Kakhyens. He obtained it at Ponsee.

We now come to an interesting little group of mice, of which the hairs are mixed with flat spines, which form the genus Leggada of Gray, a term taken from the Wuddur name for the next species.

GENUS LEGGADA

CHARACTERISTICS.—Molars high, with somewhat convex crowns; the cross ridges of the upper grinders deeply three-lobed; the front one with an additional lunate lobe at the base of its front edge; fur fine, mixed with numerous spines somewhat flattened.

NO. 374. LEGGADA PLATYTHRIXThe Brown Spiny Mouse (Jerdon's No. 194)

NATIVE NAMES.—Leggade and Kal-yelka, of Wuddurs; Gijeli-gadu, Telegu, of Yanadees; Kal-ilei, Canarese.

HABITAT.—Southern India.

DESCRIPTION.—Sandy brown or light brown fawn above, white underneath, with a band of pale fawn separating the two colours.

The fur mixed with flat transparent spines, smaller beneath; head long; muzzle pointed; ears rather large, oblong, rounded, about half an inch in length.

SIZE.—Head and body, 3½ inches; tail, 2½ inches.

The following description has been given by Sir Walter Elliot and reproduced in Jerdon's 'Mammals': "The Leggade lives entirely in the red gravelly soil in a burrow of moderate depth, generally on the side of a bank. When the animal is inside the entrance is closed with small pebbles, a quantity of which is collected outside, by which its retreat may always be known. The burrow leads to a chamber in which is collected a bed of small pebbles on which it sits, the thick close hair of the belly protecting it from the cold and asperity of such a seat. Its food appears to be vegetable. In its habits it is monogamous and nocturnal.

"In one earth which I opened, and which did not seem to have been originally constructed by the animal, I found two pairs, one of which were adults, the other young ones about three-parts grown. The mouth of the earth was very large, and completely blocked up with small stones; the passage gradually widening into a large cavity, from the roof of which some other passages appeared to proceed, but there was only one communication with the surface, viz. the entrance. The old pair were seated on a bed of pebbles, near which, on a higher level, was another collection of stones probably intended for a drier retreat; the young ones were in one of the passages, likewise furnished with a heap of small stones."

Dr. Jerdon adds he has often opened the burrows of this mouse, and can confirm the above account. He also states that the Yanadees of Nellore declare that one variety uses small sticks instead of stones to sit upon, and they give it a distinct appellation, but he could not detect any difference in the specimens they brought him.

NO. 375. LEGGADA SPINULOSAThe Dusky Spiny Mouse (Jerdon's No. 195)

HABITAT.—Punjab, and also Southern India.

DESCRIPTION.—"Nearly affined to M. platythrix (Sykes), but of a dark dusky colour above, with fulvous tips to the softer fur; below and all the feet dull whitish; upper rodential tusks orange, the lower white; whiskers long and fine, the posterior and longer of them black for the basal half or more, the rest white."—Blyth, 'J. A. S. B.' 1863.

SIZE.—Head and body, 3¾ inches; tail, 3 inches.

NO. 376. LEGGADA JERDONIThe Himalayan Spiny Mouse (Jerdon's No. 196)

HABITAT.—Himalayan range, up to 12,000 feet.

DESCRIPTION.—"Bright dark ferruginous above, pure white below; some fine long black tips intermingled among the spines of the back; limbs marked with blackish externally; the feet white."—Blyth's 'Mem., J. A. S. B.' vol. xxxii.

SIZE.—Head and body, 4 inches; tail, 3½ inches.

Dr. Jerdon first found this mouse at Darjeeling, but afterwards in the valley of the Sutlej in Kunawur, at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet, living under large stones.

NO. 377. LEGGADA LEPIDAThe Small Spiny Mouse (Jerdon's No. 197)

NATIVE NAMES.—Chitta-burkani, Chit-yelka, Chitta-ganda, Telegu of Wuddurs; Chitta-yelka of Yanadees.—Jerdon.

HABITAT.—Southern India.

DESCRIPTION.—Similar to L. platythrix, but smaller and more weakly spinous; above pale sandy brown, pure white below, the two colours clearly separated. "The spines are small, fine, transparent, and of a dusky tinge, tipped with fawn; head very long; muzzle pointed; ears large, ovate, naked; tail naked, limbs rather long, fine."—Jerdon.

SIZE.—Head and body, 2½ to 3 inches; tail, 2¾ inches.

Jerdon says of this mouse that he has found it in gravelly soil in gardens and woods in most parts of Southern India making a small burrow, which generally has a little heap of stones placed at a short distance from the hole. It is preyed on now and then by the common Indian roller or jay, and it is very generally used as a bait to catch that bird with bird-lime.

GENUS GOLUNDA

The following rats are separated by Gray as a distinct genus, which from the Canarese name of the type he has called Golunda, the characteristics of which are: "the grinders, when perfect, low, with a broad, flat crown; the cross ridges of the crown of the upper grinders divided into three distinct slightly raised tubercles; upper incisors grooved; rest like Mus."

NO. 378. GOLUNDA ELLIOTIThe Bush Rat or Coffee Rat (Jerdon's No. 199)

NATIVE NAMES.—Gulandi, Canarese; Gulat-yelka of Wuddurs; Sora-panji-gadur, Telegu of Yanadees; Cofee-wattee-meeyo, Singhalese (this name seems to me a corruption of "coffee rat").

DESCRIPTION.—Fur thick and stiff, fulvous brown, mixed with black, some olive brown mixed with fulvous, tawny grey beneath; hairs of upper parts flattened, ashy grey, tipped yellow, with some thinner and longer ones, also tipped yellow, with sub-terminal black band; under fur soft and of a light lead colour; face and cheeks rough; ears moderate, sub-ovate, hairy; tail round, tapering, scaly and hairy, dark brown above, yellowish below; cutting teeth yellow.

SIZE.—Head and body, 4½ inches; tail, 4 inches.

Dr. Kellaart says these are the rats most destructive to coffee-trees, whole plantations being sometimes deprived of buds and blossoms by them.

There is an illustration of one in Sir Emerson Tennent's 'Natural History of Ceylon' in the act of cutting off the slender branches which would not bear its weight in order to feed on the buds and blossoms when fallen to the ground. "The twigs thus destroyed are detached by as clean a cut as if severed with a knife." Sir Walter Elliot writes of it: "The gulandi lives entirely in the jungle, choosing its habitation in a thick bush, among the thorny branches of which, or on the ground, it constructs a nest of elastic stalks and fibres of dry grass thickly interwoven. The nest is of a round or oblong shape, from six to nine inches in diameter, within which is a chamber about three or four inches in diameter, in which it rolls itself up. Round and through the bush are sometimes observed small beaten pathways along which the little animal seems habitually to pass. Its motion is somewhat slow, and it does not appear to have the same power of leaping or springing by which the rats in general avoid danger. Its food seems to be vegetable, the only contents of the stomach being the roots of the haryalee grass. Its habits are solitary (except when the female is bringing up her young) and diurnal, feeding in the mornings and evenings." Dr. Jerdon says: "The Yanadees of Nellore catch this rat, surrounding the bush and seizing it as it issues forth, which its comparatively slow actions enable them to do easily. According to Sir Emerson Tennent the Malabar coolies are so fond of their flesh that they evince a preference for those districts in which the coffee-plantations are subject to their incursions, where they fry the rats in cocoanut-oil or convert them into curry." Both he and Dr. Kellaart mention the migratory habits of this animal on the occurrence of a scarcity of food. Kellaart says that in one day on such visits more than a thousand have been killed on one estate alone.

NO. 379. GOLUNDA MELTADAThe Soft-furred Bush Rat (Jerdon's No. 200)

NATIVE NAMES.—Mettade, of Wuddurs; Metta-yelka, Telegu of Yanadees; Kera ilei, Canarese.

HABITAT.—Southern India and Ceylon.

DESCRIPTION.—Fur very soft; above deep yellowish, olive brown or reddish-brown, with a mixture of fawn; under fur lead colour; chin and under parts whitish; head short; muzzle sharp; ears long and hairy; tail shorter than body, scaly, but scales covered with short black adpressed hairs; feet pale.

SIZE.—Head and body, 3½ to 5½ inches; tail, 2¼ to 4¼ inches.

The specific name of this rat is an absurd corruption, such as is not unfrequent in Dr. Gray's names, of the native mettade, which means soft. According to that accurate observer Sir Walter Elliot, "the mettade lives entirely in cultivated fields in pairs or small societies of five or six;25 making a very slight and rude hole in the root of a bush, or merely harbouring among the heap of stones thrown together in the fields, in the deserted burrow of the kok,26 or contenting itself with the deep cracks and fissures formed in the black soil during the hot months. Great numbers perish annually when these collapse and fill up at the commencement of the rains. The monsoon of 1826 having been deficient in the usual fall of rain at the commencement of the season, the mettades bred in such numbers as to become a perfect plague. They ate up the seed as soon as sown, and continued their ravages when the grain approached to maturity, climbing up the stalks of jowaree and cutting off the ear to devour the grain with greater facility. I saw many whole fields completely devastated, so much so as to prevent the farmers from paying their rents. The ryots employed the Wuddurs to destroy them, who killed them by thousands, receiving a measure of grain for so many dozens, without perceptibly diminishing their numbers. Their flesh is eaten by the Tank-diggers. The female produces six to eight at a birth."—'Madras Journ. Lit. Sc.' x. 1839.

Kellaart's Golunda Newera is, I fancy, the same, although the measurement he gives is less. Head and body, 3¼ inches; tail, 2½. The description tallies, although Kellaart goes upon difference in size and the omission of Gray to state that G. meltada had the upper incisors grooved. He says that "this rat is found in pairs in the black soil of Newara Elia, and is a great destroyer of peas and potatoes." So its habits agree.

GENUS HAPALOMYS

This was formed by Blyth on a specimen from Burmah of a murine animal "with a long and delicately fine pelage and exceedingly long tail, the terminal fourth of which is remarkably flattened and furnished with hair more developed than in perhaps any other truly murine form; limbs short, with the toes remarkably corrugated underneath; the balls of the inguinal phalanges greatly developed, protruding beyond the minute claws of the fore-feet, and equally with the more developed claws of the hind-feet; head short; the ears small and inconspicuous; the skull approaches in form that of Mus Indicus,27 but the rodential tusks are broader and flatter to the front. Molars as in the Muridæ generally, but much worn in the specimen under examination; they are considerably less directed outward than usual, and the bony palate has therefore the appearance of being narrow; the superorbital ridges project much outward in form of a thin bony plate, and there is a considerable process at the base of the zygoma anteriorly and posteriorly to the anti-orbital foramen; zygomata broad, and compressed about the middle."

NO. 380. HAPALOMYS LONGICAUDATUS

HABITAT.—Shway Gheen, in the valley of the Sitang river in Burmah, or its adjacent hills.

DESCRIPTION.—"Fur long and soft, measuring about five-eights of an inch on the upper parts, slaty for the basal two-thirds, then glistening brown with black tips, and a few long hairs of very fine texture interspersed; lower parts dull white; whiskers black, long and fine, and there is a tuft of fine blackish-hair anterior to the ears."—Blyth.

SIZE.—Head and body of a male, 5¾ inches; tail 7¼ inches. Of another specimen, female: 5¼ inches; tail, 7½ inches; sole, 1-1/8 inch; ears posteriorly, 1¼ inch.

Specimens of adult male and female with a young one were forwarded to the Asiatic Society's Museum by Major Berdmore.

We have now come to the end of the purely murine group as far as they exist within the limits assigned to these investigations. I ought perhaps to give some short notices of the following specimens discovered in Thibet by the Abbé David, and described by Professor Milne-Edwards in his 'Recherches sur les Mammifères.'

NO. 381. MUS OUANG-THOMÆThe Kiangsi Rat

HABITAT.—Kiangsi in Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—A tawny grey above, mixed with long hairs, tipped with brown, greyish below; between the fore-paws a crescent of pure white, which is a distinguishing mark of the species.

SIZE.—A little less than Mus rattus, which is about seven inches long; tail an inch longer.

This rat Professor Milne-Edwards describes from a single specimen; it is apparently rare, and was named after the Abbé David's Chinese servant—'Recherches sur les Mammifères,' p. 290.

NO. 382. MUS FLAVIPECTUSThe Yellow-breasted Rat

HABITAT.—Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—Reddish-brown; chin greyish; throat and chest tawny, mixed with grey; belly and inside of limbs yellowish-grey; ears large, nearly naked; incisors deep yellow; tail brown, covered with short hairs.

SIZE.—About 7¾ inches; tail, 6¼ inches.—'Mammifères,' p. 289.

NO. 383. MUS GRISEIPECTUSThe Grey-breasted Rat

HABITAT.—Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—Brown above; the under-parts of a clear grey.

SIZE.—About the same as the last, but with a somewhat shorter tail.—'Mammifères,' p. 290.

NO. 384. MUS CONFUCIANUS

HABITAT.—Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—Fawn brown above, pure white below; lower part of cheek white; on the back the fur is interspersed with longer hairs of a blackish tint; feet pale.

SIZE.—Head and body, about 4 inches.—'Mammifères,' p. 286.

NO. 385. MUS CHEVRIERI

HABITAT.—Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—General colour tawny brown, grizzled with dark brown; lower parts of a clear grey, almost white; ears short; feet small; tail covered with short hair.

SIZE.—About 4¾ inches; tail about 3½ inches.—'Mammifères,' p. 288.

NO. 386. MUS PYGMÆUSThe Pigmy Mouse

HABITAT.—Moupin; Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.—Distinguished by its very short ears and the square form of its head; deep brown above; greyish-yellow beneath; tail shorter than in the common mouse.

SIZE.—About 2¾ inches; tail, about 2 inches.—'Mammifères,' p. 291.

ARVICOLINÆ

In this sub-family the molars are generally semi-rooted or rootless. The Arvicolinæ or Voles consist of the American Musquash (Fiber zibethicus), a very beaver-like water rat of large size; the Lemmings (Myodes), of which there are several species which are celebrated for their vast migrations; and the true Vole (Arvicola), which is the only genus found in India, and then only in the colder climate of the Himalayas. There are several species in Europe, of which three are found in England. According to Professor Dallas, the true Voles number about fifty species, arranged by various writers under a considerable number of sub-genera. In India we have only eight known species, and two more from the adjacent country of Thibet.