FOOD AND FEEDING. 



9 



quarter pounds of grain and other seeds. The whole of the contents 

 of this store we weighed, and found it contained just eighteen pounds, 

 but whether there was only one pair, or whether there were several 

 mice we could not ascertain, but the fir seeds they had collected 

 fetched 10s. 6d. from that one nest, and altogether we made 45s. 

 of the seeds we got in about five days — not a bad sum to reap 

 from the labour of such small animals as mice. It is a curious 

 and noteworthy fact that mice, when storing away food for winter 

 use, always select that which is soundest and fairly ripe, so that a 

 store of seeds is of value, if they are of any useful kind. It is 

 also very noticeable how clean the little animals are when in a wild 

 state, eating only clean food, and that free from all obnoxious 

 properties. 



The house mouse is not, however, so particular as regards food, 

 and, so far as we have been able to ascertain, they make no stores of 

 food against a rainy day. 



The food of fancy mice should be clean, and consist of substances 

 that are inodorous, so as to lessen the chance of unpleasant smells. 

 If well kept on proper food, and cleanliness is scrupulously attended 

 to, no offensive odour will be perceptible, with the exception of a 

 slight one that is given ofi from the animal itself, and this is so 

 slight that the scent of the sawdust will completely conceal it, 

 unless, as we said before, coarse substances, such as cheese, bacon, 

 or strong vegetables — as onions or garlic — are given them. We 

 have ere now known such cases, and the result has been, as might 

 have been expected, an intolerable stench. 



The staple food of fancy mice should be stale bread soaked in milk, 

 and oats and bran, with an occasional change to canary seed and 

 millet, and other seeds that are poor in oil. Wheat should not be 

 given, neither should hemp, linseed, rape, mustard, &c., as they are 

 too oily. In preparing the bread and milk, stale bread (at least 

 three days old) should be crumbled into a cup or basin, and scalding 

 hot milk should be poured over it in just sufficient quantity to soak 

 the bread well without making it sloppy. Feed regularly once a day 

 with this, and when the mice cease eating remove the tin, and 

 throw in some oats or canary seed. This they will eat at leisure ; 

 and each time the cages are cleaned out some bran should be 

 thrown in along with the sawdust, partly for them to eat and partly 

 to assist in absorbing moisture. During the winter a small portion 

 of suet chopped fine, or lean meat well boiled and chopped up, should 

 be given once or twice a week with canary or millet seeds instead of 

 oats. Water is not, as a rule, necessary, the moisture in the bread 

 and milk being sufficient ; but if dry food is alone used, then a little 

 milk should be given from time to time. During spring and summer 

 a few blades of flowering grass will be welcome, and at all seasons a 

 small piece or two of carrot occasionally will be taken with apparent 

 relish. On no account should salt food be given, as it disagrees with 

 the little animals, and sugar should only be used sparingly, as it tends 

 to make the mice too fat and gives them a rough appearance. The 

 tins iu Avhich the bread and milk are put should be scalded out at least 



