THE EGYPTIAN JERBOA 203 



becomes yet more lively, frisking and dashing 

 about with marvellous speed. 



These animals when turned into an out-door 

 enclosure progress by a series of tremendous leaps, 

 the long tail streaming behind to act as a counter- 

 poise to the forwardly-directed head and body. 

 When allowed full liberty, they bounce over the 

 ground as if made of india-rubber, making springs 

 six or seven feet long, and escaped animals may 

 have to be recaptured by strategy, since the light- 

 ning speed at which they travel renders direct 

 pursuit hopeless. Jerboas are very fond of 

 ploughing up the sand or sawdust of their cage 

 with their snub noses, 1 and heaping it up into 

 little mounds : they also are very destructive to 

 woodwork, rasping persistently at the same place 

 night after night, till a large ragged hole has been 

 gnawed in the wood. When nibbling at an object 

 near the floor these animals lie almost prone and 

 turn rapidly this way and that, their gleaming 

 white bellies recalling the struggles of some 

 silvery fish, a semblance heightened by the rapidly- 

 jerking tail. Tame jerboas become bold enough 

 to nibble their owner's fingers : they do not, 

 however, relish being picked up, kicking and 

 struggling and inflicting incidental scratches with 

 the long claws on the hind feet. These animals 



1 The nostrils of the Egyptian species are protected during this 

 ploughing operation by a thickened fold of skin. 



