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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1879)
February, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. 35 THE HARVEST MOUSE. There are very few animals among the Mammalia who venture to exert their skill upon aerial architecture. Consequently the Harvest Mouse is re garded with special interest; and this not only because its home is suspended above the ground in such a manner as to entitle it to the 1 am: of a true pen sile nest, but also on account of its in trinsic beauty and elegance. The nest is generally hung to several stout grass stems; sometimes it is fastened to wheat straws; and occasionally it is found suspended to the head of a thistle. It is a very beau t i f u 1 structure, being made of narrow grasses, a n d woven so carefully as to form a hollow globe, rather lar ger than a cricket-ball, and very nearly as round. It is so firm that one of them has been rolled across the table, and yet the eight young blind mice, pack ed within as tight as herrings in a barrel, never rolled out. The marvel is, that unlike birds' nests it seems lo have no entrance, si 1 that bow the owner of the mansion gets in anil nut remains a secret. We can only see the inte rior by breaking down the grassy walls, and then, alaal w ith all our bricks and mor tar, and our clev er h a n d s, we could never put them up again. The h a r v e st mouse is an ele gant little crea ture, its fur is about the color of the squirrel'i, and so soft and thick, it feels like a little velvet cushion; it it so tiny that when ftdl grown, it weighs scarcely morcthan the sixth of an ounce, and we cannot but wonder how it " I rives to form so complicated an object as a hollow sphere with thin walls. The food of the harvest mouse con sists principally of insccti, flic being pccial favorites, although it now and then cats nuts, and should you at some time find in the field an empty nut-shell with a cleanly cut round hole in it mid all the kernel gone, you may he quite sure that the harvest mouse has been over the ground before you. COLORS IN PUMfltURK Blue is not advisable in rooms where hard service is expected, or much ex posure to light and sun necessary. Crimson is not a serviceable color for furniture, turning gray and fading in spite of care, though crimson and ma roon are admirable in carpets, holding their own against time, and hard use, nil. RAHVm HOI HE, and abuse, even, ama.ingU. Never theless, one lequires much patience when she takes into her house red and black, or red and maroon carpet, for not a eck of dust, a thread of material of .my color, a hair, even, can escape de tection, ami a broom i constantly re quired. The word fonttantly i scd advisedly, no other suiting lh emer gency. Nevertheless, no carpal gives such pretty lights and reflections, or so much cheerful warmth and beauty, as one of these troublesome, monotone shaded red ingrains. Indeed, in colors, carpets have the advantage decidedly. Take green, for instance, (ireenrcp, which was so popular and pretty not long since, soon fades, turns rusty, din gy, gray; it is, if anything, worse than crimson ; but a green carpet, particularly the olive shades, wears admirably, though changing slightly if in too strong sunlight, as all colors do, mine 01 les. With brown and gray the case seems reversed, since a brown carpet gets dingy, and a brown and gray one com- limed noodi a good deal of bright color to give any air of comfort or of cheer M a room in which it is, This is not true of brown car pets, whose tones incline to butler nut' or minium, bill of the cool, pUli l'l o w 11 s and grays. On the contrary, chairs and solus up holstered in blown prove the most '.iii facto r y, Ml haps, of all, since thev keep warm, rich tints and m e 1 1 0 w shiidowniu spile bf sun and loin . Cray it veiy lovely for furni ture, but rutin 1 1I1 In ate; it is eecially hand some when re licxcd by pnf. tings of CHI lei, 1 rlmiOnOf blue. A large lint ol m(I HI the 1I1 ll.iol ihe I ra se I 1 is i-f , II. I '., is' about lo bt il vked. w 1 1 1 when eutopic ted will In- qual to the 1.1 iiioiis Swinoiiiisli Il.tl, Washington Ter rilory. J. A. Navarre, of Victoria, II. C., is the H m 1 mil in!, ol of the work, and nlMtes that these lands arc to be let 01 huld In any one applying foi them. Iliitish Columbia oilers a most excel lent home market, at fair prices, for all produce. Oregon shipped about (yx barrel of limn lo our llritmh Columbia neighbors during 1H7M.
