Another thing about them is that they are practically all profit. The bread and milk and occasional hemp seed upon which they live is used in such small quantities that an expenditure of 6d. per week will suffice to keep dozens.
Then there are many fanciers who make a lot of money out of their young mice. A working man in the North of England, who is an ardent fancier, makes no less than £15 per annum in this way, besides an occasional pound or two for an extra-promising specimen.
Many fanciers have very large collections. The secretary of the National Mouse Club possesses some 2,000 in his cages, and I know at least half a dozen others whose collections range between two and five hundred. At one day old the mice are little pink objects scarcely longer than a wax vesta, minus sight and minus coat. I saw a litter of this age in Staffordshire some time ago. A fortnight later they were in full war paint, and were winning prizes at a big show in the "under eight weeks" class. It is well that they develop so quickly, since at two years they get ill and out of condition and are usually destroyed.
There are many collections in this country valued at £30, and I know of one for which £100 has been offered and refused.
As with other fancy animals, the best specimens are selected from a litter and the rest are drowned. The selected mice are reared with the greatest care, and as soon as they are of the right size and age they commence the round of the shows. At home they are kept in immense tenement cages, divided into tiny compartments for two, but they travel to the shows singly in special exhibition cages.
"MATCHLESS," THE CHAMPION MOUSE—SHOWING HOW THE JUDGING IS DONE.
These exhibition cages are packed together in a live-stock box, and on their arrival at their destination are taken charge of by special stewards, who see to the feeding arrangements and place them in their right classes.
Great interest is taken in the judging of these tiny creatures, and the judge is always surrounded by an eager crowd of spectators. Usually he contents himself with a glance in the box, shaking it up if the occupant is of a lazy disposition. When it comes to taking stock of a particularly good exhibit the mouse is taken out of the cage and examined.