4 



FANCY MICE. 



In no case should a damp cage be used, nor should the mice be 

 changed about too much, as they will then become very wild and 

 unmanageable. When any mice are not required, either from disease 

 or from the colour not being suitable, they should be sold, or if this 

 cannot be done, they should be killed, and so got rid of. 



Mice, if properly cared for, will live for two or three years, and 

 then die of old age. They are, however, of little or no use for 

 breeding purposes after they are two years old, but in that time they 

 would produce over a hundred young ones. 



Finally, we would say here that fancy mice are better and easier 

 kept, and are shown to greater advantage, in the "Vivarium" cage, 

 described on page 8, than in any other. 



COLOURS AND VARIETIES. 



The colours of fancy mice may be classed as self, or entire coloured, 

 and variegated or mixed colours, and these latter are very various, 

 on account of the many crosses that can be made by inter-breeding 

 the various colours. 



In the first place, the white mouse is perhaps the most common, 

 and it is certainly a pretty animal when viewed without prejudice. 

 As a rule, the white mice have pink feet and eyes, and the ears 

 at times appear pale pink through the light passing through them 

 to a certain extent. Whether from a more delicate constitution and 

 tractable disposition, or from some innate cause or inherent nature, 

 they are the easiest of all fancy mice to tame and teach tricks. 

 They also, as a rule, form the basis from which all the variegated 

 forms are raised, and are consequently much in demand. Occa- 

 sionally impure breeds or strains are raised, in which there are black 

 ears, eyes, and feet, and these look well as a change with the others, 

 but it is needless to state that they should not be raised as a fixed 

 variety, which they are not. For cross-breeding, too, they are not 

 so good as the pure white, on account of black being, as a rule, 

 largely introduced into the young ones obtained. 



After the white come the black, some of which are black, and 

 others shade off to a sooty brown colour. All dark mice are lighter 

 underneath, and therefore the darker they are the more will this be 

 observed. The best to be purchased for breeding purposes are the 

 darkest, as it is a comparatively easy matter to reduce the coloiu", 

 but it is an infinitude of trouble to raise them up to full black. The 

 blacks are not of so delicate constitution as the whites, and they are 

 more wild and savage, and although they can easily be taug^it 

 tricks, &c., they do not learn so readily as the fawn coloured ones or 

 the white. 



The fawn coloured mouse is perhaps the most variable as regards 

 colour, which runs from reddish grey to bright golden fawn (not 

 yellow). Some care has to be taken in the selection of the original 



