348 SOME OBSERVATIONS OX BRITISH MICE. 



tail twined round the stalk. One observer has seen him 

 suspend himself entirely by the tail, after the fashion of 

 some of the American monkeys. He differs from the monkeys 

 who possess prehensile tails, inasmuch as the monkeys only 

 grasp with the last few inches of their tails, which are 

 devoid of hair on the under-surface of the tip and protected 

 by a patch of callous skin. The harvest-mouse uses the 

 entire length, which has a uniform covering of scales and 

 minute hairs. 



My little pet used to give us a most entertaining per- 

 formance in a small tin bath. When first introduced into 

 the arena he would run nimbly round, and then converting 

 himself into a tripod by standing on his hind legs, and 

 using his tail as the third support, he would endeavour to 

 peer out upon the Avorld. A little bowl of dried rose leaves 

 would then be placed before him, when he would dive in 

 head foremost, scattering the petals in all directions, and 

 reappearing almost at once he would jump out and continue 

 his rapid perambulations up and down his playground. On 

 one occasion we put a stuffed mole into the bath, and his 

 behaviour towards it was very amusing ; he walked round 

 it with mincing steps, suspiciously facing it all the time, 

 and when it was made to advance upon him he sprang back 

 alarmed. 



His diet was of the simplest description — soaked bread, 

 ripe fruit, corn of all sorts, grass seeds, caraway seeds, and 

 nettle seeds. He was a bright example of the invigorating 

 effects of a vegetarian diet ; and though it is often said that 

 the flesh-eating animals have more vigour than those whose 

 vitality is expended in dealing with the more bulky nature 

 of vegetable food, I never saw an animal who carried into 

 practice the idea of perpetual motion so completely as little 

 Henry, the harvest-mouse. 



