COMMON MOUSE. 279 
prayers of the poor, or the common wants of humanity in his own 
person. 
Many a young lady will scream at sight of a poor little Mouse, and 
many a brave young man might be startled in the stillness of the night by 
the noise made by this diminutive creature, especially if given to the read- 
ing of the “ Mysteries of Udolpho” or the “ Castle of Otranto,” late in the 
hours of darkness, alone in a large old lumbering house. 
The Common Mouse is a graceful, lively little animal — it is almost om- 
nivorous, and is a great feeder, although able to live on but little food if 
the .supply is scanty. This species has from four to ten young at a litter, 
and the female suckles her young with tender care. When first born, they 
are very small, almost naked, and of a pinkish colour. The Mouse has seve- 
ral litters every year. We kept a pair in confinement, which produced four 
times, having from four to nine in each litter. Dr. Godman quotes Aris- 
totle, who says that “ a pregnant female being shut up in a chest of grain ; 
in a short time a hundred and twenty individuals were counted.” 
On examining our corn-crib in the spring, and cleaning it out ; although 
it was constructed with a special view to keep off rats and vermin, being- 
on posts, and the floor raised from the ground some three feet, with boards 
outside inclining downwards all round, we found and killed nearly fifty 
Mice. A basket in the crib, hanging by a rope from a cross-beam, in 
which we had put some choice corn for seed, had been entered by them, 
and every grain of corn in it devoured. We found in the basket nothing 
but husks, and the remains of a Mouse’s nest. The animal must 
therefore have climbed up to the roof of the crib, and then descended the 
cord by -wdiich the basket of coim was suspended. 
The activity, agility, and grace of the Mouse, have made it a favourite 
pet with the prisoner in his solitary cell, and it has been known to answer 
his call, and come out of its hiding places to play with the unfortunate 
captive, showing the greatest fondness for him, and eating out of his hand 
without fear. 
Of late years, white Mice have been in request in London, where they 
are taught various tricks, and are exhibited by boys in the streets. It is 
stated that in order to increase the number of this variety, persons exclude 
them from the light, this they pretend causes a great many of them to be 
born albinos. We are however satisfied from personal experience that a 
pair of albinos, accidentally produced, would continue to propagate va- 
rieties of the same colour without the aid of darkness ; as is the case in 
the albino variety of the English rabbit. 
