100 NATURAL HISTORY. 



we must conclude that, whatever the lion might have done 

 under the circumstances, the tiger at all events would not have 

 availed himself of the proffered assistance. He relates of a tiger 

 that was kept in a cage at Mysore : 



" But what annoyed him far more than our poking him up 

 with a stick, or tantalizing him with shins of beef or legs of 

 mutton, was introducing a mouse into his cage. No fine lady 

 ever exhibited more terror at the sight of a spider than this 

 magnificent royal tiger betrayed on seeing a mouse. Our 

 mischievous plan was to tie the little animal by a string to the 

 end of a long pole, and thrust it close to the tiger's nose. The 

 moment he saw it, he leaped to the opposite side ; and when 

 the mouse was made to run near him, he jammed himself into 

 a corner, and stood trembling and roaring in such an ecstasy of 

 fear that we were always obliged to desist from sheer pity 

 to the poor brute. Sometimes we insisted on his passing 

 over the spot where the unconscious little mouse ran back- 

 wards and forwards. For a long time however we could not 

 get him to move, till at length, I believe by the help of a 

 squib, we obliged him to start ; but instead of pacing leisurely 

 across his den or making a detour to avoid the object of 

 his alarm, he generally took a kind of flying leap, so high 

 as nearly to bring his back in contact with the roof of his 

 cage."^ 



HAIR OF MOUSE. 



A white variety of mouse is tolerably common, and is usually 

 bred in cages. As it is very tame and beautiful, it is in great 

 repute as a pet. 



The HARVEST MOUSE, the smallest of the British quadrupeds, 

 discovered and described by White in his " Selborne," is very 

 much smaller than the ordinary mouse, a halfpenny weighing 

 down two of them when placed in a pair of scales. Its nest 



* Hall's Fragments, part iii. page 96. 



