255 



THAT' 



l 's it; 



space between the wires been 

 sufficiently wide to have ad- 

 mitted her teeth or paws to 

 reach it. I was surprised at 

 this occurrence, as I had been 

 led to believe that the harvest 

 mouse was merely a granivorous 

 animal. I caught the fly, and 

 made it buzz in my fingers 

 against the wires. The mouse, 

 though usually shy and timid, 

 immediately came out of her 

 hiding-place, and, running to the 

 spot, seized and devoured it. 

 From this time I fed her with 

 insects whenever I could get 

 them, and she always preferred 

 them to every other kind of food 

 that I offered her." The same 

 writer observed that the tip of 

 the tail possessed a prehensile 

 power, and that the animal used 

 it while climbing about the wires 

 of its cage. We have seen the 

 harvest mouse in captivity tole- 

 rably tame, and reconciled to its 

 prison. It often sits erect, and 

 feeds itself, holding grain between 

 its paws, which it also uses in 

 dressing its soft fur. It drinks 

 by lapping the water with its 

 tongue, and sleeps rolled up into 

 a ball.* 



Perhaps, in moving through 

 the woods or copse, we may 

 have been fortunate enough to 

 move a hare, 7, or a fox, 8. 

 The fox, if possible, fixes his 

 abode on the border of a wood, in 

 the neighbourhood of some farm 

 or village ; he listens to the 

 crowing of the cocks, and the 

 cries of the poultry ; he scents 

 them at a distance ; he chooses 

 his time with judgment ; he 



* Knight's Museum of Animated Nature. 



conceals his road as well as his 

 design ; he slips forward with 

 caution, sometimes even trailing 

 his body, and seldom makes a 

 fruitless expedition. If he can 

 leap the wall, or get in under- 

 neath, he ravages the courtyard, 

 puts all to death, and retires 

 softly with his prey, which he 

 either hides under the herbage, 

 or carries off to his kennel. He 

 returns in a few minutes for 

 another, which he carries off and 



660. 



conceals in the same mannei. 

 but in a different place. In this 

 way he proceeds till the progress 

 of the sun, or some movements 

 perceived in the house, inform 

 him that it is time to suspend 

 his operations, and to retire to 

 his den. He performs the same 

 manoeuvre with the catchers of 

 thrushes, woodcocks, &c. He 

 visits the nets and birdlime very 

 early in the morning, carries off 

 successive 'y the birds which ar3 



