336 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
on the head; the longer hairs witha dusky tip ; the basal two-thirds deep 
ash ; under-parts and feet white ; tail clad thinly with fine whitish hair ; 
the fur in general long, dense, and silky. 
S1ze.—Head and body, from 24 to 34 inches; tail, about the same. 
This is the mouse, I think, that I caught in the house at Simla in 
1880. Ofeight specimens I got—seven in a cupboard in the dining-room 
and one in a bath-room—I sent two in spirits to the Indian Museum and 
brought down to Calcutta three alive, which I kept for about seven 
months, when they died. I have since then seen living specimens of 
M. bactrianus from Kohat, with which they appear to be identical. They 
also resemble—I speak under correction—JZ. cervicolor, which is a field 
mouse found in Bengal. I made the following notes regarding them : 
Fur very fine, close and silky, rufescent brown, more rufous on the head, 
isabelline below ; feet flesh-coloured, hinder ones large, much larger than 
those of the English mouse; the hind-quarters are also more powerful ; 
has a very pretty way of sitting up, with the body bent forwards, and its 
hands clasped in an attitude of supplication. The young mice seem 
darker both above and below, and are much’more shy than the old ones, 
of which one soon after being caught took bits of cake from my fingers 
through the bars of its cage. More delicate looking than AZus urbanus, 
witha much shorter and finer tail; less offensive in smell. 
Dr. Anderson got, not long ago, two of these mice in a box from 
Kohat. They bore the journey uncommonly well, and were in lively 
condition when I saw them at the Museum. Whilst we were talking 
about them, we noticed an act of intelligence for which I should not 
have given them credit had I not seen it with my own eyes. They 
were in a box with a glass front; in the upper left-hand corner was a 
small sleeping chamber, led up to by a sloping piece of wood. ‘The 
entrance of this chamber was barred by wires bent into the form of a 
lady’s hair-pin, and passed through holes in the roof of the box. 
The mice had been driven out, and the sleeping-chamber barred, for 
they were having their portraits taken. Whilst we were talking we found, 
to our surprise, that one mouse was inside the chamber, although the 
bars were down. ‘There seemed hardly space for it to squeeze through ; 
however, it was driven out, and we went on with our conversation, but 
found, on looking at the cage again, that our little friend was once more 
inside, so he was driven out again, and we kept an eye on him. ‘To our 
great surprise and amusement we saw him trot up his sloping board, 
put his little head on one side, and seize one of the wires, which worked 
very loosely in its socket, give it a hitch up, when he adroitly caught it 
lower down, hitched it up again and again till he got it high enough to 
allow him to slip in underneath, and then he was quite happy once more. 
He had only been in the box two days, so he was not long in finding 
out the weak point. I begin to believe now in rats dipping their tails 
