PET ANIMALS. 345 



as recommended for the dormouse. Some are very ingeniously con- 

 trived like little houses fitted up with glass windows, doors, &c. ; they 

 consist frequently of two or three stories communicating one with 

 another, by means of small ladders, up which the little animals are 

 compelled to climb to obtain their food, which is generally placed in 

 the uppermost story ; others are made like small models of wind- 

 mills, the sails of which are made to turn round by means of a re- 

 volving cage inside. The common revolving or "turnabout" cage 

 is one often used; but the same objection is to be raised against 

 it for these little creatures as that mentioned before with regard 

 to the squirrel. The usual food for white mice is bread sopped 

 in milk, squeezed pretty dry; oats, too, they are very fond of ; a 

 few may be given them every day. Cheese, of any kind whatever, 

 is decidedly bad. 



Great attention should be paid to the cleaning out of the cage, the 

 health of the little tenants mainly depending upon it ; it should be 

 done regularly every morning, and that thoroughly ; the smell, which 

 is always very strong, will otherwise be exceedingly offensive ; the 

 bed, too, should be frequently attended to and changed ; after lit- 

 tering, however, the sleeping-box should not be opened at all for 

 three or four days. The young ones are able to shift for themselves 

 when about a fortnight or three weeks old. 



A very pretty piebald may be obtained by a union of the white with 

 the common brown mouse. There are besides several other varieties 

 of these pretty little animals, such as the black, the black and white, 

 black and brown, fawn-coloured, &c. ; but all these being scarcer 

 than the plain white, are much more expensive, a pair of them costing 

 as much as four, five, or even six shillings. 



Harvest mice and the long and short- tailed field mice are also 

 frequently kept by boys as pets, particularly by those in the country. 

 They are found about harvest time in great numbers on the corn- 

 fields ; their nests also are found in the hay- fields after the grass has 

 been mown. They soon become tame and familiarized to confine- 

 ment, and have none of the offensive smell the common species 

 have. They may be kept on oats, beans, peas, nuts, &c., with a 

 little bread and milk. 



The harvest mouse, perhaps, is the most interesting little animal. 

 It is the smallest quadruped known in the world, being only one- 

 sixth the size of the common house-mouse. It is nothing near so 

 big as the large bees you often see humming amongst the clover in 

 summer. Two harvest-mice full-grown will barely weigh down a 

 halfpenny. It generally builds its nest near the top of three or four 

 ears of corn, the plumed ears making quite a screen overhead ; the 

 stalks or stems of corn are quite strong enough to support this little 

 nest, which it fastens to the straw by twining the grass round the 

 stems. The nest, with its eight or ten young ones, is hardly so large 

 as a regular- sized cricket-ball. It will amuse itself in a wheel-cage, 

 like a squirrel, and seems to enjoy itself very much ; it will also 

 twine its tail round the wires like a monkey, and swing its tiny, 

 inch-long body to and fro like a pendulum, suspended only by 

 its tail. 



