THE HAMSTER. 69 



to have admitted her teeth or paws to reach it. I was 

 surprised at this occurrence, as I had been led to believe 

 that the harvest mouse was merely a granivorous animal. 

 I caught the fly, and made it buzz in my fingers against 

 the wires. The mouse, though usually shy and timid, 

 immediately came out of her hiding-place, and running 

 to the spot, seized and devoured it. From this time I 

 fed her with insects whenever I could get them, and she 

 always preferred them to every other kind of food that I 

 offered her." The same writer observed that the tip of 

 the tail possessed a prehensile power, and that the ani- 

 mal used it while climbing about the wires of its cage. 

 We have seen the harvest mouse in captivity tolerably 

 tame, and reconciled to its prison. It often sits erect, 

 and feeds itself, holding grain between its paws, which 

 it also uses in dressing its soft fur. It drinks by lapping 

 the water with its tongue, and sleeps rolled up into a 

 ball. 



The Hamster (Cncetus vulgaris). 



Fortunately for England the hamster is not indigenous 

 within the precincts of the island. It inhabits the whole 

 tract of countries extending between the Rhine and the 

 Ural Mountains, and between the German Sea and Bal- 

 tic lo the north and the Danube to the south, wherever 

 it finds a congenial soil. It is very common in Thu- 

 ringia. Its proper soil is a deep alluvial mould with a 

 substratum of clay ; in dry, strong-soiled, or stony dis- 

 tricts, it is not often found. The teeth of the hamster 

 closely resemble those of the rat. (Fig. 40.) The tail 

 is short and hairy. There are large cheek-pouches, as 

 in some of the monkeys, in the form of sacs, which serve 

 for carrying home food : they extend from the inside of 

 the cheeks beneath the skin, along the sides of the neck, 

 even over the shoulders. The general figure is thick : 

 the limbs are short ; there are four toes and a small 

 thumb on the anterior feet ; five toes on the hind-feet ; 

 the head is large, the muzzle abruptly pointed, the ears 

 rounded. The general colour is as follows : head and 

 upper parts reddish-gray, verging to yellow on the face ; 



