SOME OBSERVATIONS OX BRITISH MICE. 3l5 



This was the beginning of an acquaintance which soon 

 ripened into intimacy. He became very tame, but not before 

 he had bitten me pretty severely once or twice. He would 

 sit with perfect confidence in my hand and eat his bread 

 or cake, or ramble at will over the seats of the chairs, 

 picking up the crumbs that had lodged in the folds of the 

 upholstery. I kept him in a large open wooden box, in 

 one corner of which I formed a small mound of moist earth. 

 In a very short time he had made himself a burrow. I 

 could see him at work, and noticed that he used his teeth 

 for excavating, his paws being only used to throw out the 

 ddbris behind him. Every now and again he would emerge 

 and shake olf the fine earth adhering to his fur, as a dog 

 shakes off water ; then he would sit on his hind legs and 

 perform a general toilette in the manner of a cat, and then 

 down he would go and set to work again. 



He was a very audacious little creature, and it was an 

 amusing sight to watch his behaviour toward a guinea-pig. 

 The two combatants were put upon a large table, and the 

 guinea-pig, in that blundering, shortsij;;hted fashion of theirs, 

 would approach the mouse, sniffing audibly. The mouse, not 

 in the least cowed by his antagonist's superior size, would 

 stand on his hind legs and deliver one or two stinging blows 

 with his fore paws to such purpose that the inquisitive 

 cavy was forced to retreat. 



In the following spring T took him back to his home by 

 the hawthorn. He darted hither and thither, and seemed 

 to recognise the old landmarks with great satisfaction. I 

 tried to catch him, but he kept his distance and in a short 

 time disappeared from view. 



The long-tailed field-mouse has the provident habits of 

 the squirrel, and when autumn showers down her lavish 

 gifts, he collects and stores great quantities of food for his 



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