42 THE MOUSE. 



with a wooden spoon twice a week. The substance is 

 yellowish, and when new, its scent is so strong as to cause 

 giddiness : it becomes more pleasant after being kept. 

 Civet is no longer used by the physicians of Europe; but 

 as a perfume, it is still an object of commerce. It is larger 

 and stronger than the tame cat, and its fur muchlonger, and is 

 taken either in traps, or by shooting. There is frequently 

 danger in the latter mode; for if it be only slightly 

 wounded, it will attack the person who has injured it, and 

 is not easily repelled 



THE MOUSE. 



The Common Mouse is too well known to require a 

 particular description ; it is found in ever)' part of the old 

 continent, but it is doubted whether it was a native of 

 either America. The mouse is wild and timid, but not 

 ferocious, and is easily tamed, so as to become familiar 

 with those about it. 



The white variety is frequently kept tame, and has 

 brightened eyes, in common with the white varieties of 

 most quadrupeds. 



The mouse is very prolific ; in proof of which, we may 

 adduce the experiment of Aristotle, who placed a pregnant 

 mouse in a vessel of grain, and found there, in a short time, 

 no less than 120 of her offspring. The hairs of the mouse 

 presents when magnified a very curious appearance, 

 being divided as if by a continued spiral fibre, into parti- 

 tions across their length. 



The Wood Mouse abounds in the fields of all the 

 temperate parts of Europe, and frequently does great 

 damage by devouring the newly-sown acorns. The food 

 of the wood mice consists of acorns, beech-mast, nuts. &c. ; 

 of which they lay up a large store for winter consumption. 

 Their habitations are formed under ground, and often 

 consist of two apartments, the one for the residence of the 

 family, the other for the winter provision. The general 

 length of the wood mouse is four inches and a half, its tail 

 measures four inches ; the colours, which are pretty dis- 

 tinctly marked, are yellowish brown above, and whitish 



