SOME OBSERVATIONS OX BRITISH MICE. 351 



relative shortness of his fore limbs will show that his habits 

 are arboreal ; like the squirrel, he spends most of his time 

 among the branches. They exercise their activities in quite 

 different spheres, however ; for while the squirrel delights 

 in the great trunks of forest trees, his paws being provided 

 with hooklike claws, by which he clings to the rough bark, 

 the dormouse feels more at home among the lesser branches 

 of hazel and hawthorn, his paws being well adapted for 

 grasping twigs. His behaviour while climbing up a stick 

 is precisely like that of a squirrel ; when he finds himself 

 observed, he presses close to the bark and sidles round the 

 stick, till he is quite hidden from the observer. By day the 

 dormouse is very drowsy ; but when fairly roused he is quick 

 and active, and will take surprising leaps. One of my pets 

 sprang at least fifteen inches of horizontal distance, from my 

 hand to a coat hanging on a peg. The force of the jump was 

 most noticeable to my hand. Should he miss his footing and 

 fall, he takes no hurt ; but spreading out limbs and tail to 

 their fullest extent, he floats to the ground like a para- 

 chute and alights uninjured. In this, too, he resembles the 

 squirrel. 



I have seen one of these animals hang by his hind legs for 

 a considerable time, using his fore paws to hold a nut to his 

 mouth. 



The hazel nut forms the staple food of the dormouse, from 

 which fact he obtains his name of avellanarius. The 

 kernels are extracted in a most workmanlike fashion, while 

 he sits on his hind legs and holds the nut to his mouth 

 with his paws. He first nibbles a small hole, which he 

 gradually enlarges, until the whole contents have been 

 scooped out with his long curved teeth. 



The nest in which the young are reared is of a consider- 

 able size, and is built in a thick bush. The materials of 



