A neighbour housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch of
which were assembled near an hundred, most of which were taken;
and some I saw. I measured them; and found that, from nose to tail,
they were just two inches and a quarter, and their tails just two
inches long. Two of them in a scale, weighed down just one copper
halfpenny, which is about a third of an ounce avoirdupois: so that I
suppose they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island. A full-
grown mus medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce, lumping
weight, which is more than six times as much as the mouse above;
and measures from nose to rump four inches and a quarter, and the
same in its tail.
We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this month. My
thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and a half below the
freezing point, within doors. The tender evergreens were injured
pretty much. It was very providential that the air was still, and the
ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general must
have suffered prodigiously.
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