124 COMMON r.lMTISli AN DIALS 



They are sucli dainty little creatures and play so 

 prettily that one can but regret that they are so 

 foul-smelling and destructive. They will eat any- 

 thing from paper to bones, and will make their nests 

 in such strange places as a bee-hive, a loaf of bread, 

 or a tin of gunpowder."^ 



The white and pied mice, waltzing and singing- 

 mice, are varieties of the house mouse. Mr. 

 Lydekker says that ^' singing mice '^ can run up 

 an octave and end witli a decided attempt at a 

 trill. I myself used to watcli a mouse who came 

 out every evening in the gloaming from under an 

 old piano, where he seemed to dwell in silence by 

 day listening to the twanging sounds produced by 

 children practising on the instrument. He would 

 squeak out several consecutive notes, as if he were 

 attempting to imitate the musical eiforts which had 

 been dinned into his sensitive little ears during the 

 day. But I cannot say I ever heard him accomplish 

 an octave. Sir Harry Johnston says, in his ' British 

 Mammals,^ '^ The singing of these mice resembled the 

 chirping, quavering notes of a young cock canary who 

 is beginning to experiment with his voice. '^ 



The Black ok Old English Rat. 



So scarce has the black rat become that few 

 people living in inland places are aware that any 

 rats, except the now all too prevalent brown rats, 

 exist in England. 



Although the black rat has not been domiciled so 

 * ' Field/ June 16tli, 1894. 



