APPENDIX. 



FANCY MICE FOR EXHIBITION. 



Mrs. Leslie Williams, a lady who lias given considerable 

 attention to modern fancy mice, their breeding and ex- 

 hibiting, contributed some excellent papers on the subject of 

 The Bazaar, and these we reproduce here for the benefit to 

 other fanciers. 



The formerly much-despised mouse is coming nearer and 

 nearer to the front in the ranks of the fancy. Every year 

 more shows give classes for these little animals ; and their 

 keeping and management are so simple, and the interest and 

 pleasure to be got out of them so great as compared with 

 the small cost of their maintenance and the little trouble they 

 give, that they are bound to become still more popular a.s 

 time goes on. 



The best start possible for the beginner in mice, who 

 perhaps has never seen a fancy mouse that was not either 

 white, or piebald (black-and-white), or skewbald (brown or 

 yellow, or any colour and white), is to go to a show, such as 

 Cheltenham or Oxford, where a number of really good speci- 

 mens are to be seen. The size of these, the beauty of both 

 self-coloured and parti-coloured or multi-coloured, will open 

 the eyes of the novice to a startling degree. True, the prices 

 of these beauties as catalogued are also rather startling, in 

 some cases running into pounds; but then these are the fruit 

 of months of careful breeding and rearing, and breeding-stock 

 may be obtained at very reasonable rates — from 5s. to £1 a 

 pair may be said to embrace all deviations in value. 



Mice at shows nowadays are generally classified, more or 

 less, as follows : " Self -colours," " Broken-colours," and " Even- 

 marked." The self-colours include orange or fawn mice, 

 which are exceedingly handsome, and usually larger than the 

 other varieties; blacks (which run rather small), creams, 

 plums, chocolates, silver greys, &c., and whites are shown in 

 this class. Broken-colours are really piebalds and skewbalds, 

 and their value depends on size, beauty of form, and rich- 

 ness of colour and markings. 



The most valuable strain of mice is that known as " even- 

 marked," which term explains itself. Breeding " even-marks " 



