Raids by Mice
The acquisitive habits of some of the winterers has been quaintly emphasised in a country house in Oxfordshire. A store of broad beans kept for seed was raided by mice, which carried many of them off—a journey of some thirty yards—to the house. Having got them there they hid the booty away in all sorts of places. Beans were found in the toes of a number of slippers, bedroom and other, in the corners of rugs and in the cracks of upholstered chairs. Now the broad bean is a cumbrous and heavy object for mice, yet these small beasts must have carried a score or more over a considerable distance and over difficult obstacles. Would the mice, one wonders, remember where they had put their hoards? Squirrels certainly forget ; but I think mice have better memories. Most of the out-of-doors stores that I have found gave signs of frequent meals.
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