as it lies on its side, the long hind legs form almost a straight line with the body. The next instant the little contortionist flexes its body, the long legs projecting in front of its muzzle as rigidly as a moment before they were extended backwards. Food is the next consideration: the Jerboa begins to run about with remarkable nimbleness and lightness, like some wee brown gnome or "brownie" (literally, a "brownie"), ever and again abruptly stopping to examine some object. Oats, corn, millet-seed—any dry food is welcomed, the grains of food being clasped in the tiny fore paws, and conveyed to the mouth in true rodent fashion. Green-stuff is also taken freely. Although probably, like the Giraffe, the Eland, and the Gemsbok, the Jerboa has often, in its own African deserts, to go without water for long periods, it drinks freely when it has the opportunity, and I have frequently seen my own animals drink, scooping up the water with the fore paws, and conveying it to the mouth so quickly that at first glance the animal seems to be lapping the water like a Dog.
Jerboas are very playful: if their cage is carpeted with sand, they will stretch themselves on it with great glee, and attempt to burrow in it, ploughing up the sand with their muzzles. They also have a mischievous habit of nibbling woodwork, and on one occasion a pair of these animals utterly ruined a small bird-cage given to them for a sleeping apartment by demolishing both floor and back, an enormous hole being gnawed in each. One Jerboa, indeed, which was recently addressed to me, I never got, for in transit the industrious prisoner nibbled his way out to freedom, doubtless to the astonishment of the railway officials. Twigs and branches with the bark on are quickly stripped bare; in this respect these rodents are fully as destructive as Budgerigars or Parrots. Jerboas climb well, running quickly up wire-netting, and jumping off recklessly on to the floor from a considerable height; I once lost a nice female from a compound fracture of the leg, supposed to have been caused by this habit. She persisted even after the limb was broken in scrambling up the wires on one leg, and did not die for at least a week after the injury, eating and sleeping well in the interval. Jerboas are very tough; the male I now possess once fell through a hole in the floor of a loft upon the concrete pavement of the room below, from a
