


FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

345 

they burned their wings and fell down.’”’ In the second, 
dated September 11, 1661, he writes the following, which 
will go to the very heart of all cat-plagued pigeon fanciers : 
“To Dr. Williams, who did carry me into his garden, where 
he hath abundance of grapes; and he did show me a dog 
that he hath to kill all the cats that come hither to kill his 
pigeons, and do afterward bury them, and do it with so 
much care that they shall be quite covered, that if the tip 
of their tail hangs out, he will take up the cat again and dig 
the hole deeper, which is very strange; and he tells me that 
he do believe he hath killed a hundred cats.’ A dog of this 
breed would fetch a fabulous price nowadays.—Cassel’s. 


~N 
Sate Pet Departwent: 
4a- All communications and contributions intended for this depart- 
ment should be addressed to HOWARD I. IRELAND, Concordville, 
Delaware County, Pa. 



(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
WHITE MICE 
Turse beautiful and interesting little creatures—the 
smallest of four-footed pets—seem to have been totally 
neglected by writers on the subject of animals kept for 
amusement; yet, I venture to say, there is hardly a person 
- who has not during some period of his boyhood had a few 
of them. Boarding-schools are rarely without some of them, 
kept by the students; indeed, this is such a noticeable fact 
that Dickens, in his story of David Copperfield, mentions 
the school at which young David spent his early youth as 
celebrated because of this. Nor is there a pet possessing 
more elegant proportions, displaying more agility, or wear- 
ing a handsomer coat than this same little white mouse. 
Their gracefully shaped limbs and body, and the beautiful 
shade of pink coloring in their eyes and ears, are surpassed 
by no animal kept as a pet. They are intelligent, and re- 
cognize the step of their feeder, setting up loud squeaks at 
his approach. With very little trouble they can be taught 
innumerable tricks and antics. I heard of one being kept 
in a cage with a canary, and the two remained on very ex- 
cellent terms, eating and drinking from the same dishes, at 
the same time, without ever quarreling. When I was nine 
or ten years of age, I remember quite distinctly of a white 
mouse that escaped from its cage, and for a long time would, 
every night, seamper up and down my mother’s bed after 
she had retired, keeping her awake a good part of the 
night. Many efforts were made to effect its capture, but all 
were vain, till one night it was discovered behind a trunk. 
Crack, crack, crack went its poor little bones, as the trunk 
was pushed back against the wall, and unfortunate mousey, 
now a shapeless mass, was thrown into the street to make a 
dainty meal for some homeless pussy. 

Generally the first pets kept by children, they are soon 
neglected for the more highly prized rabbit and pigeon. 
Their great deterrent to popularity is their ‘mousey 
smell.’’ Of course they smell ‘mousey.’ It is their 
natural odor, which no degree of domestication will ever 
remove. A recipe to subdue this objection I now give: 
‘Take an empty tin baking-soda box, pierce it with holes by 
means of an awl, and fill it two-thirds full of chloride of 
lime or carbolic disinfective powder; nail the box to the 
upper part of the cage, and I will warrant’no bad odor will 
ever be perceived as long as this remains in their cage. 
This same recipe will effectually neutralize the bad odor 
emitted by any animal. 
White mice are very prolific, producing from four to 
twenty young at a birth, and having litters monthly. 
A good cage for them may be made out of an empty 
starch box, fitted with a second story, connected with the 
first by means of stairs. I once saw one made entirely of 
tin, and a very beautiful cage it was, with its little tin 
apartments tenanted by mice of all ages, from the hairless 
babe to the gray-coated grandfather. 
The best food on which to feed white mice is wheat flour 
and cracker dust, given alternately, with oat meal once or 
twice a week. Occasionally give a crust of stale bread, 
oats, canary seed, etc. Raw meat fed to them just before 
littering will satiate their appetite for fresh flesh, and often 
prevent them from devouring their young. Milk is in 
every way preferable to water as a drink, and should be 
given altogether, or as often as possible. 
As soon as a female shows unmistakable signs of being 
with young, she should be immediately removed from the 
common cage and placed in a small box by herself. Leave 
her and the young in quiet for three weeks, and then 
replace them in the common cage. If one exhibits canni- 
balistic habits and devours the young, give her an ounce of 
oak wood administered on the back of the head. 
A very beautiful variety of mice are produced from the 
union of the brown and white mouse. The manner in which 
to effect this is to allow a female her liberty in a place in- 
fested by common mice. After running at liberty for a few 
nights, confine her in a box separated from the rest, and 
await the issue. This plan generally proves successful at 
the first trial; indeed 1 have never known it to fail, though 
sometimes the progeny, instead of being ‘‘ pied,” are brown, 
and in every way resemble the common mouse. 
Be sure and clean their cage once a day. Paut Loatc. 

—.1e 

(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
HOW TO FATTEN AND KILL A RABBIT. 
Ir is often desirable to fatten a domesticated rabbit in the 
shortest possible time and with but little expense, especially 
when they are to be sent to market. The best way to do 
this is as follows: Separate the rabbit to be fattened from 
his companions, and confine him by himself in a hutch 
about five by two (not larger), so that he is allowed no 
room for exercise. Feed four or five times a day—early in 
the morning on oats or oat meal; at noon give clover that 
has been cut the day before and thoroughly dry; about six 
o’clock in the evening feed on dry timothy (not dried as 
hay is, but all the moisture expelled). Whenever you pass 
his hutch and the feed-box is empty, immediately fill it. If 
dry food is given and drink is necessary, give milk in 
preference to water. 
