a very hard piece of ground, but
even there he very quickly burrowed out of sight.

[Illustration]

HARVEST MICE.

I had often wished to keep these interesting little animals, but as they
are only found in some parts of England and are difficult to capture
from their minute size and delicacy, I had to wait many years before
they could be obtained. At length, through the kindness of a friend, six
were sent to me from Norfolk, and for two years they lived in captivity
and afforded me much pleasure.

They are the smallest English rodents, two of them only weighing a
halfpenny; they are brown in colour with white underneath, very long
whiskers and prehensile tails. They were made happy by finding all
things needful for their comfort in a large plant case. A thick layer of
cocoa fibre was spread over the bottom of the case, dry moss and hay
provided, wheat-ears, oats, and canary seed, and a small cup of water. A
flowerpot in which a number of small branches were fixed afforded
opportunity for exercise in climbing, and a pleasant resting-place was
formed by a half-cocoanut filled with cotton-wool and roofed over with
dry moss, then slung by three wires in a tripod of sticks of
corky-barked elm, a little hole for entrance being left at one side.
Into this the mice went the moment they were turned into the case, and
in it they mostly lived. I fancy its swinging a little as they moved
inside was congenial to their ideas of comfort. As they live in
cornfields and make a pendulous nest attached to an ear of corn, I
supplied them with a pot of growing wheat, in the hope that they would
incline to make a nest in it; but I could never induce them to rear a
family. They would sit for hours in the corn-stalks and nibble them
into a heap of shreds, but no nest ever appeared. Their greatest delight
was a handful of fresh moss full of little insects on which they would
feed. The greatest excitement was always shown when the moss
appeared--little heads would peep out of the cocoa-husk, little noses
sniffed in all directions, and then, with jerky runs, the tiny folk made
their way to the attractive spot, and soon each would be seen sitting up
like a small kangaroo feasting on a beetle or spider held in the tiny
paws. Sometimes in their great happiness they made a low, sweet chirping
like a company of wrens conversing cheerily together. When climbing in
their tree-branches it was interesting to see how the fine wiry tail was
al