ways coiled round the stem as the creature descended, so as to keep it
from falling and injuring itself.

Canary seed and brown bread seemed a favourite diet, and if I put a
trough of growing corn into the case the mice made little burrows
through it so as to be able to eat the wheat from below. I had heard a
sad report that my fairy-like pets had a tendency to eat each other as
spring came round! This I fancied might arise from lack of animal food,
so once or twice a week I always gave them a small portion of meat and
this seemed to prevent any tendency to cannibalism.

After keeping them two years several deaths occurred, so I thought the
remainder should have their liberty, and I had the pleasure of seeing
them enter one of my corn-stacks where I hope they found all that their
little hearts could desire, and possibly they would stray to a
neighbouring bank and found a colony.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE CALIFORNIAN MOUSE.

A rather strange parcel from California reached me by post some years
ago. It was marked "Live animals with care," and consisted of a box,
containing several divisions, each having fine wire-work to admit air.
In one I found a spiny creature called a Gecko, in another a beautiful
lizard which had not survived the journey, and in the third a very rare
species of mouse known as _Perognathus Pencillatus_. It has a soft silky
coat of silver grey and fawn colour, and a long tail with a little tuft
at the end, very large black eyes and white paws. It was alive, but weak
and tired with its journey of ten days and all the jars and shocks it
must have had by the way. I gave it warm milk and soaked bread, which it
seemed to enjoy, and some hours later it was supplied with wheat grains,
the food upon which it lives in its native country.

True to his natural instinct, mousie soon began to fill both his cheek
pouches with the corn, and tried to hide it away as a supply for the
future. In a few days the little creature was in perfect health, and he
has been a great pet now for several years; perfectly tame and gentle,
he will run about on the table and amuse himself happily wherever he is
placed.

Being entirely inodorous he is kept in the drawing-room in a mahogany
cage which was made specially to meet his small requirements. He is a
busy little creature at night, as he likes daily to make a fresh bed of
cotton-wool, and fusses about with his mouth full of material until he
has arran