very
amusing, tame little creatures, ready to take dandelions, nuts, or any
little dainty, from one's hand.

As they breed very readily in England, I was soon presented with a
little family of five very tiny, pinkish-coloured infants, quite blind,
and destitute of hair. They were not attractive, and so were left to
their mother's care till they could see and were properly clothed, and
then they were extremely pretty, and rapidly developed all the habits
and manners of their parents, gnawing wood, nibbling nuts, and having
merry games of their own, darting with wonderful quickness in and out of
the tree-roots, and getting up small battles for some coveted morsel of
diet. The first pair were quiet enough, and agreed happily together, but
when, later on, mother and daughter happened to have a little brood at
the same time, things became complicated, and it was no uncommon sight
to see the two mothers careering about, each with an infant in its
mouth, and it often fell to my lot to take care of the unfortunate
children and replace them in the nest whilst the mothers had a
"stand-up" fight, and this is a literally true expression, for gerbilles
sit bolt upright and fight each other with their front feet; but, though
they appear to be in desperate conflict, I must say I never saw that any
damage was done. As to their gnawing power, it is almost beyond
description. I gave them a strong wooden box as a nursery for the young
gerbilles, but before long they had eaten out the back and sides, and a
mere skeleton of a box remained. There was a piece of zinc, which formed
a partition, but they ate a hole right through the zinc in no time, and
when a wire cage, with a sliding door, was placed in the plant case,
they soon learnt how to lift up the door and get out. We often watched
the formation of the family nest, which was constructed of wool and hay
nibbled very small, and carried by mouthfuls and woven together. It
generally had two outlets for ingress and egress. There the entire
family would sleep during the day amicably enough, but towards evening
the nursery disputes would begin, and old animosities led to frequent
battles and scrimmages, because somebody wanted some one else's pieces
of wool for the precious infants. Still they were very tame, amusing
little creatures, liking to be stroked and fed and rewarded by a run
upon the breakfast-table, where they would examine every dish and plate
in a delicate, inquiring way, not tou