THE HAMSTER. 165 



winter, which I intended to keep as a pet, and had 

 tolerable success, considering the nature of the 

 beast. He was exceedingly touchy and irascible in 

 temper, and would let no one but myself handle in- 

 take him up. When irritated, which was very 

 often, the moment he saw any stranger looking at 

 him, he would grunt with rage like a miniature wild 

 boar, and throwing himself on his back, would gnash 

 his teeth and snap viciously at anything near him. 

 He was kept in a large cage, well supplied with hay, 

 in which he slept for the greater part of the day, 

 becoming active towards evening, when he was 

 generally permitted to run loose about the room, at 

 which time he would amuse himself by trying to 

 burrow in the coal-scuttle, sending the coals flying 



o / o 



in all directions by the action of his powerful 

 digging paws, and working away in a most per- 

 severing and praiseworthy manner, in the hope 

 of scratching a hole in the bottom, only giving up 

 the attempt when his wind was utterly gone. On 

 recovering himself, he would proceed to climb up 

 the leg of my, chair, in order to get into my coat 

 pocket, where I often kept an apple for him. 



Having obtained this, he would take it on the 

 hearth rug before the fire, and there peel it in the 

 most careful and methodical manner before eating 

 it. On one occasion I remember he managed to get 

 into a bedroom up stairs, and there finding a pair of 



