[Bert Kitchen] And So They Build 004 - Harvest Mouse 
 From: giraffe@longneck.inc (giraffe~⇔)
 Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.artpics
 Subject: Re: Critters  - KitchenBert_AndSoTheyBuild04-iej.jpg
 Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2000 03:02:04 GMT
 
 >*
 >*From a educational book for children
 >*And So They Build 
 >*Written & illustrated by Bert Kitchen
 >*
 >*ISBN 1-56402-502-0
 
 
 KitchenBert_AndSoTheyBuild04-iej
 
 A pregnant harvest mouse will soon have a family 
 and so she builds.....
 
 This tiny mouse is found in areas ranging from
 Brittain to Japan.  Before her babies are born,
 the female mouse weaves a nest around a group
 of upright, growing stalks in a cultivated field,
 using long leaves still attached to the plants to
 form the basic shape.  She weaves the walls with
 blades of grass, which she first shreds lengthways
 into manageable strands with her sharp teeth, and
 lines the nest with shorter shredded blades of 
 grass and other soft plants.
 
 Warm, comfortable, and safely suspended above
 ground - growing higher and higher as the stalks
 to which it is attached grow - this perfect nest
 for baby mice takes their mother just five to ten
 hours to build.   |