SET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 8 1 



do love canary seed, and have caused the death of many 

 a canary to get it. Our advice is to be sparing with 

 the hemp and linseed give it as a tit-bit. For soft 

 food some recommend most fanciers do bread and 

 milk. But caution is enjoined as to quantity. Some 

 give boiled rice, some one thing, some another. As 

 green food, many of the common weeds are recom- 

 mended. Dandelion leaves, white flowering chickweed, 

 groundsel, garden lettuce, watercress, carrot, potato, 

 etc., are also given. Mr. Hamlin says: "My usual 

 diet is as follows For morning feed, give about a table- 

 spoonful of plain canary seed, changing it occasionally 

 for white millet seed. This is all that is required for 

 the morning. For the evening meal I give a handful 

 of the best oats it is possible to buy, and sometimes, just 

 as a treat, I give a piece of Osborne biscuit. About 

 three times a week I give bread and milk. The best 

 thing to do when giving this latter is to get the bread 

 as stale as possible, cut it up into small pieces about 

 the size of a walnut, and pour the water over it. When 

 it is properly soaked squeeze out the water and pour a 

 little milk over it. But even then I always squeeze the% 

 milk out again, as it does not to give it to the mice in 

 too sloppy a state. If you do so, it makes their coats 

 loose. O course, in the summer time it does not hurt 

 to give them a few blades of grass, which they greatly 

 enjoy." We may just add here, that the first thing to 

 remember in feeding mice is that they need to be fed 

 regularly and as punctually to time as possible. To 

 the casual observer this may not seem of importance, 

 but it is true, nevertheless. 



BREEDING. 



It is always advisable when breeding mice it does 

 not matter what variety you go in for to have the best 

 bred stock you can get. It may be a little more ex- 

 pensive on the first outlay, but the breeder will find that 

 it is cheaper in the end. Not only so, but it saves a 

 lot of time which would otherwise be occupied in the 

 task of breeding out defects which are generally to be 

 found in second rate stock. Often we have heard men 

 say they could buy this or that specimen at such a price 

 usually a ridiculously low one. We wait a while, 



