352 SOME OBSERYATIONS ON BETTISH MICE. 



which it is composed are grass, leaves, pine-needles or simi- 

 lar substances ; and it has been recorded that they place a 

 feather to serve as a door to the nest, which, by its elasticity, 

 recovers its position when pushed aside by the outgoing or 

 incoming dormouse, and, like a spring door, keeps out the 

 draught from the interior. Young dormice are born blind, 

 and are of a mousey grey colour, not attaining their 3^ellow 

 fur till the following spring. 



The principle point of interest in the natural history of 

 the dormouse is the faculty he has of sleeping through the 

 cold weather in a state of torpor. The scientific name for 

 this phenomenon is " hibernation."' The country people 

 of Suffolk call it the " sleeper," and the name " dormouse " 

 is given in recognition of this curious habit (Latin dorniirey 

 to sleep). 



As autumn approaches, he feeds very freely on the various 

 fruits and nuts the season so bountifully provides ; and as a 

 consequence he soon increases to truly aldermanic propor- 

 tions, until his form, never very elegant, resembles nothing 

 so much as a round pincushion. 



His next step is to interlace some grass blades, and con- 

 struct a very compact little nest among the lower branches 

 of a shrub, and at the first approach of cold weather, he falls 

 into his death-like trance. He rolls himself into a tight 

 ball, and lets his tail lie right over his head ; his ears are 

 flattened against his head, and look as if they had been 

 pressed with a ho t iron ; his whiskers, too, are smoothed 

 against his cheek. Everything seems arranged so as to expose 

 as small a surface to the cold as possible. On taking him 

 into your hand, you are surprised to find how cold he is ; 

 his temperature barely exceeds that of the surrounding atmo- 

 sphere. His breathing is almost at a standstill, and the 

 pulsations of the heart are intermittent and irregular. 



