JAPANESE WALTZING MICE 
HESE brown and white, piebald dancers 
) ffl) area source of amusement to all who 
= watch them. Anatomists and physi- 
ologists have written long treatises upon 
why this mouse dances like a spinning top. But it 
does not matter much to us whether the dancing 
is caused by imperfect equilibrium through some 
defect of the ear or brain, or from some other cause, 
so long as our pets keep active and entertaining. It 
is supposed that these mice originated in India, from 
the common mouse of China and were introduced into 
Japan. There is a pretty legend that these mice 
lived in the cotton bolls of India in the long ago. 
Mrs. Cyrus R. Crosby has given to me the notes 
which she made upon the habits and care of her pair 
of pet waltzers. Although they are nocturnal in 
their habits, and begin their regular dancing after 
four o’clock in the afternoon, yet she found that some- 
times they came out in the morning or at noon and 
danced for a time. Once she tried to count how 
many times one of them whirled without stopping; 
the approximate number was two-hundred and 
seventy-four. One day when taking the male out of 
the cage he bit his mistress, and in the scramble that 
ensued he jumped into the drinking dish as he 
returned to the cage. He was greatly disturbed and 
excited over getting wet; for a time he danced faster 
than usual, then sat down and began to clean himself 
most violently; he scraped the water off his fur with 
his foot, and then licked his foot; he used both fore 
feet and hind feet for this process until he looked 
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