WILD CREATURES OP GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



mouse with a wriggle can get free, leaving a 

 much annoyed owl or hawk with a mere bit of 

 useless skin instead of the fine fat mouse that 

 it thought it had caught. As one frequently 

 meets with bob-tailed mice, I think this sort 

 of thing must happen quite often. It has 

 been stated in books that after an accident of 

 this sort the mouse always bites the bare bone 

 off at the point where the skin broke. This 

 is certainly a mistake, for I have had numbers 

 of long- tailed mice which in one way or another 

 had had their tails skinned, and not one of 

 them attempted to bite the bone off, but let 

 it stay until it dried up and fell off of its own 

 accord. 



When kept in a cage field mice are not only 

 most charming and interesting little creatures, 

 but they are so good-natured that quite a num- 

 ber can be kept together without any fear of 

 quarrelling. They are not rude and unpleasant 

 to newcomers like the bank voles, who always 

 go straight for strangers and try and knock 

 them head over heels. The long-tailed mice 

 are much better behaved ; they are the ladies 

 and gentlemen of the mouse world, behaving 

 not only with consideration, but giving a 

 kindly welcome to complete strangers who may 

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