all your visits to
the cage and in giving him his food--nuts, acorns, grain, cold boiled
potatoes, dry bread, and now and then a small piece of cooked meat. A
very charming account of what it is possible to do with tame squirrels
will be found in a little book called _Billy and Hans_, by Mr. W. J.
Stillman.

Mice

Mice should have a cage with two compartments, one of which should
have a door in the woodwork but no wires. In this room should be a bed
of hay. The natural food of mice is grain, but in captivity they are
generally fed on bread and milk and slices of apple. They can be tamed
to a small extent, but for the most part they do no more than run
round a wheel, although if other gymnastic contrivances are offered
them they will probably do something with them. Dormice (to whose food
you may add nuts) sleep through the winter months, and are therefore
not very interesting for more than half the year.

Turtles

A turtle is rather an interesting animal to keep, although he will not
do much in return. Even in summer they have a curious way of
disappearing for weeks together, and in winter, of course, you see
nothing of them. An ordinary mud turtle is often seen moving slowly
along the roads after a rain. He can be carried home by turning him
over on his back--but be careful to keep your fingers away from his
snapping mouth. As a rule they can feed themselves, and they also have
the happy knack of doing without food altogether for long periods, so
that you need not be anxious.

Fish

Bowls of goldfish are not uncommon, but few people seem to care for
fish of other kinds. And yet a little aquarium can be stocked for a
small sum and is a most interesting possession. One small tank of
young bream, for example, can be a perpetual and continually fresh
delight. Let the tank have cloisters of rockwork and jungles of weed,
so that hiding may be possible, and then watch the smaller fish at
their frolics. Young trout are hardly less beautiful, and very easy
to keep healthy, in spite of general opinion to the contrary. The
important thing is to maintain a current of water through the tank.
The old way was to carry the overflow down a pipe in the centre
through its surface opening, but an improvement on this system is for
the leakage to be at the bottom of the tank and the inflow at the top.
Young perch are beautiful too,--and tench, and dace, and roach,--and
all are hardy. Feeding them is very simple. The shop fro