168 



THE AET OF TRAINING ANIMALS. 



desire to secure the cheese will make him take it ; then by 

 urging and guiding him with your wand you can make him 

 carry it about j being loth to relinquish the cheese, he will 

 retain the whole. The amount of this bait used may be gradu- 

 ally diminished. By-and-by he may be made to convey little 

 articles to and fro between two persons seated at opposite sides 

 of the table. To do this^ as well as for general convenience, it 

 is well to accustom your pupil to come to you at some particu- 

 lar sound. This may be either the snapping of the finger nails 

 or some slight noise of the mouth. It is easily done by making 

 the noise, and, at the same time, pulling him toward you by the 

 string attached to his tail. When he reaches you reward him 

 with a morsel of cheese or bread, and repeat from day to day 

 until he will come upon hearing the call. 



Rats or mice may be used as motive powers to operate little 

 models of machinery. This requires no traming, as they are 



RAT AS A MOTIVE POWER. 



merely placed in a tread-mill contrivance, and being kept there 

 their weight causes the works to move and compels the animal 

 to keep up the motion. 



A little performance, a la Blondui, may be arranged for your 

 mouse by stretching a piece of wire sufficiently stout to afford 

 him a firm foothold, from two posts, about a foot in hight, 

 fastened into a board. The ends of the wire may be at an 

 angle, and also be secured to the board. Being guided by your 

 wand up the slanting wire upon the main one, the dexterity 

 with which he will run about upon it is quite surprising. If he 

 has been already taught to hold things in his mouth he may be 

 given a piece of wood, about the thickness of an ordinary friction 

 ma.tch and twice its length, to represent a balancing pole, and 



