yfr. J. E. ITariiiKj on Forest Animals. 91 



I oucG discovered a dormouse ensconced in an old nest 

 of a blackbird, wliere it had made itself very comfortable 

 in a bed of dead leaves. Although, like other Rodents, it 

 is, strictly speaking, a vegetarian — feeding on beech-mast, 

 acorns, young hazel-nuts, corn, and so forth, during the 

 autumn, and laying up stores for the winter — yet, during 

 the summer, when such food is not to be obtained, it is 

 insectivorous. A tame dormouse, when allowed a run in 

 the garden, would eat the Aphis kuiiyera, and the caterpillars 

 of Sphinx ocellata. It was very fond also of the grubs of 

 Balanus nucum, the nut weevil, preferring maggotty nuts 

 to sound ones on that account ; it would also eat the 

 small caterpillars found in apples and pears. 



As its name implies, the dormouse is a great sleeper, 

 and remains dormant during the greater part of the winter. 

 I once saw a pure white dormouse which had been cap- 

 tured at Cowfold, near Horsham, where it is now pre- 

 served in the collection of my friend Mr. Borrer. 



Two other little animals sometimes cross our path as we 

 take our rambles through the forest — the Long-tailed and 

 Short-tailed Fieldmice. Strictly speaking, the latter is not 

 a true mouse, but a vole (belonging, like the so-called 

 water rat, to the genus Arvicola, the members of which 

 are distinguished from those of the genus Mus by several 

 well-marked characters). 



You may know the long-tailed fieldmouse by his sharp 

 snout, long ears, and long rat-like tail. The short-tailed 

 vole, on the contrary, has a blunt rounded muzzle, short 

 ears almost hidden in the fur of the head, and a short hairy 

 tail. Though very attractive in appearance, and easily tamed, 

 they are, unfortunately, rather mischievous in their habits, 

 and sometimes do a great deal of damage in young planta- 

 tions by barking the trees.* Fortunately, they are kept in 

 check to a considerable extent by owls, both white and 

 brown, who capture and devour great numbers of them, as 

 I have often ascertained by an examination of their rejected 

 pellets. 



* See Jesse's " Gleanings," 1st series, p. 175, and St. John's" Wild 

 Sports and Natural History of the Highlands," p. 67. 



D 



