The Country Mouse also known as the Pebble-Mound Mouse or Eastern Pebble Mound Mouse
is a species of rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 in the family Muridae

Muridae

Muridae is the largest family of mammals. It contains over 600 species found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. They have been introduced worldwide. The group includes true mice and rats, gerbils, and relatives....

.
It is found only in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is considered to be a rare mouse and was first discovered by Thomas and Dollman in 1909.

Like other pebble-mound mice

Pebble-mound mouse

Pebble-mound mice are a group of rodents from Australia in the genus Pseudomys. They are small, brownish mice with medium to long, often pinkish brown tails. They construct mounds of pebbles around their burrows, which play an important role in their social life.There are four complementarily...

, the species is known for building shallow burrow

Burrow

A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the...

s with a mound

Mound

A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...

 of pebble

Pebble

A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...

s surrounding the entrance. This function is understood to be for protection and dew collection. In Queenland the observed mounds in coastal areas have smaller mounds than in drier habitats, reflecting the need to collect more of the scarcer water. The species also lines the tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

 walls with pebbles both for insulation

Thermal insulation

Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...

and protection. A further habit is to plug smaller opening to the burrow system with a pebble, so as camouflaging the entrance, and can be removed when there is a need to exit the burrow in times of danger.