112 COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



vvater_, cilthougli they so provide most commonly that 

 their tails may hang within the same. It is also 

 reported that their said tails are a delicate dish . 



(for to say the truth we have not many 

 beavers_, but only in the Teisie in Wales). 



The Dormouse. 



This beautiful little animal is a well-known pet^ 

 and has been known to live in captivity three or four 

 years, if carefully fed and if due attention be paid to 

 give it every facility to continue, as far as possible, 

 its natural habits. One of the most remarkable of 

 these habits, from which it derives its name, is the 

 long sleep in which it indulges from the close of the 

 nut harvest till the following spring. At intervals 

 on a mild day the dormouse wakes up and takes a 

 little refreshment from his store of food, laid by for 

 the purpose, therefore the little Seven Sleeper, who 

 is a guest in your house, must have a store of food 

 by his bedside in case he should wake at any time, 

 and need some sustenance, and he must have a soft, 

 cosy winter bed of grass and leaves, such as he is 

 used to when he makes his own in an ivy-covered 

 hazel stump. The breeding nest is usually built in 

 a bush or tree, sometimes, though rarely, in tufts of 

 grass, near, but not on, the ground. The nest is 

 about 6 inches in diameter, and built loosely of grass 

 and oak leaves. Mr. Millais has noticed that the 

 nightingale and the dormouse have similar taste in 

 the choice of sites for a home, the favoured spots being 

 the edges of oak woods with undergrowth of hazels. 



