Joseph P.
White mice will eat nuts of all kinds, canary-seed, and various other grains. They will also nibble bread and cake. They must have plenty of water, and like a little milk now and then. They should be given a soft, warm nest of dry moss or of flannel.
J. G. D.—In all rooms where meal is kept, the worms generally breed much faster than they are wanted. The meal-moth is very pretty. Its fore-wings are light brown, with a dark chocolate-brown spot on the base and tip of each. It is often to be seen clinging to the ceiling of kitchen or store-room, with its tail curved over its back. This moth deposits its eggs in the meal, and in a short time the worm is hatched, which soon forms itself into a cocoon, from which the moth again comes forth. You may find this worm crawling in old flour barrels or some box in which meal has been kept; and if you keep a box of meal standing open in some warm place, the moth will be very likely to find it, especially in the summer-time, and use it as a deposit for her eggs. Meanwhile you can feed your mocking-birds on meal and milk, mixed now and then with very fine chopped raw beef and with bits of fruit. You can also buy prepared food for them. Be sure to give them plenty of clean gravel in the bottom of the cage.
"Subscriber," Moline, Illinois.—Hephaistos is the correct Greek spelling of Vulcan's name, but Hephæstos is the accepted English spelling of the word. Either is correct.—The translation of Don Quixote has become such a standard English work that the ordinary English pronunciation of the name is allowable. In Spanish it is pronounced Ke-ho-tay, with a slight accent on the second syllable.
Favors are acknowledged from Belle R., Tennessee; Willie D. V., Indiana; Robbie B. H., St. John, New Brunswick; Alpha T. E., Pennsylvania; from Illinois—Mamie Ripley, Tommy C. H., Edith Patterson, Joseph K.; from Massachusetts—Kennie Norwood, L. Tyler P., Stanley K. H., Harry B., F. U. T.; from Ohio—Lulie H., Oscar B., Willie Gordon, Ralph M. F., Hattie Mitchell; from Michigan—Nellie M. C., L. A. Waldron, Edward D. E.; from New York—Fred L. Colwell, A. M. Tucker, D. C. Gilmore; Eddie R. Derwart, Toronto, Canada.
Correct answers to puzzles received from Walter S. Dodge, Washington, D. C.; Merton L. T., Massachusetts; James A. S., Connecticut; Sallie V. B., Nebraska; L. A. W., Canada; Harry Lewis, Kentucky; C. M. J., Ohio; from Pennsylvania—R. O. Lowry, George N. Hayward, Walter Lowry, Chester B. F., Florence M.; from New Jersey—K. H. Talbot, Otto M. Rau; from California—Violet A. Francis, F. T. Swett; from New York—H. G. S., Florence, Main, Perkins S., G. A. Page, Van Rensselaer, Etta R., Etha F. Smith, "Oats," Nellie H., B. F. W., F. N. Dodd.