THE LONG-TAILED FIELD MOUSE 



it was a long thin tail ! — ^the very thing to 

 catch the mouse by. I grabbed at it eagerly, 

 but, oh dear ! — ^the horrid feeUng ! I can 

 remember the shiver that went down my back 

 to this minute, for the tail skinned between my 

 fingers ! The mouse was gone, and I was 

 left with an atom of skin that had pulled off 

 like a glove. Never again did I try to pick 

 a long-tailed mouse up by its tail. What 

 happened to the mouse I cannot say — I never 

 saw it again — but perhaps the cat knew. She 

 had always looked upon it as her mouse, and 

 been much annoyed when I drove her away 

 from the jar. Whatever its fate, and I hope 

 it got away out of the window, it left me with 

 a great interest in these charming little animals, 

 which has led me since to try and learn as 

 much as I can about them ; it also left me with 

 a firm conviction that the tail is not the right 

 part to pick one of these mice up by. So 

 easily does the skin come off that it seems 

 likely that it is a special arrangement to enable 

 the owner to get away from hawks and owls, 

 for if a bird of prey, seeing something moving 

 in the undergrowth, drops down and grabs 

 at the object, it will as likely as not merely 

 take one of these mice by the tail, when the 



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