84 
NATURE NOTES. 
with a lens could be seen the restless, wideawake pupil directed 
sharply this way and that. The minute incisors were light 
brown. 
The hind legs were much longer and more powerful than the 
fore : owing to this, many of his attitudes and movements strongly 
resembled those of a kangaroo, as for example when he stood 
erect, his fore-paws hanging down, his sensitive nose snuffing 
the air as if he would by smell discern the boundaries of space 
into which he was about to make a reckless leap. But if at one 
time he looked like the lowly marsupial, at another his arboreal 
(1 should say gramineal) habit and prehensile tail brought the 
monkey, far above him in rank, to one’s mind. 1 could not watch 
him for five minutes without seeing how useful this prehensile 
tail was to him : when in danger of slipping from a grass stalk 
or leaf he would instantly coil it once or twice round either these 
or a neighbouring stalk ; again when running down a vertical or 
inclined haulm he put his tail on as a drag. He sometimes 
wound it round my fingers to steady himself. 1 then felt a pecu- 
liar sensation of clinging impact, due, I think, to the rings of 
short stiff hairs on the tail, the points of the hairs directed 
towards its tip. So long as the tail was wound round a support 
he felt secure enough to wash himself, or eat, notwithstanding 
the slenderest foothold. It was of use even on a level surface, 
for he would stand like a kangaroo on his hind legs and the 
lower joints of the tail, 
As regards the habits of the harvest mouse I can only offer 
a few remarks ; I did not know mine in the capacity of nest- 
builder and parent. We can all remember or refer to Gilbert 
White’s classic description of the nest and young of his “ new 
mice ” (vide Letters xii. and xiii.). The everyday life of my 
mouse, however, I had fair opportunity of w'atching through the 
glass front of his cage. What chiefly struck me was his inces- 
sant activity ; I never saw him asleep. Perhaps, inasmuch as 
he fed chiefly at night, he might be called a nocturnal animal, 
but by day as well he was bewilderingly lively ; playthings 
seemed a necessity of his existence, so I gave him a constant 
change of furniture. Wheat stalks tied in a bunch would form a 
ladder from floor to ceiling, then hay for hiding places and millet 
stalks for bridges, and various wild grasses which seemed to 
furnish him with interesting problems in their dissection. His 
perseverance and energy in the face of crushing odds were most 
instructive to witness. It might be his task was to tear into 
narrow' strips the leaves of ribbon grass, or to shred up a cluster 
of green oats : the work was done in spite of uncertain foothold 
and frequent tumbles and the hard and scratchy nature of the 
materials worked on. I may here add to the list of his accom- 
plishments that he w'as a fearless and rapid sw'immer. 
He was beginning to grow tame enough to jump from his 
cage on to my hand (even from the first he had submitted to 
my rubbing behind his ears), but if by chance I handled him 
