WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



people call them, and it is certainly a good 

 name, for their long slim shapes do remind one 

 of thin sleek well-groomed dogs. But a jam 

 jar was a small thing to keep my greyhound 

 mouse in, and those in authority decreed that 

 either the mouse must be let go or fresh 

 quarters found for it. It was my mother who 

 found the new cage, a big bowl in which fish 

 had been kept ; with sand on the bottom, 

 some grass and rubbish for nest-making, and a 

 sheet of wire netting over the top, it would do 

 well. The new abode having been put ready, 

 and all preparations made for the removal, 

 the jam-jar was picked up, its cover taken 

 off, and the whole turned upside down over 

 the fish-bowl. But nothing happened ! The 

 mouse did not want to come out ; we shook it, 

 at first gently, then more roughly, but still it 

 clung to its home. A still rougher shake, 

 and then it shot out, not into the new cage, 

 but on to the table ! With a great spring (it is 

 marvellous how these mice can jump) it landed 

 not only on the floor, but half across the room, 

 and with another bound it had reached the 

 shelter of the bookcase. With a cry from my 

 mother, with a shriek of despair from me, we 

 dashed to that bookcase : peeping from behind 

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