British Gnawing Mammals 



it is always warm and comfortable, wherein the female 

 has five or six litters a year, with perhaps four to eight 

 at a litter. These youngsters are quite bare when 

 born, and are blind, but in ten to fourteen days they 

 are on their feet and roaming in search of scraps and 

 crumbs. The House Mouse, in its typical colour, is 

 greyish-brown, but there are very diverse shades and 

 variations, down actually to the albino and fancy Mice, 

 as seen at modern exhibitions. In days gone past. 

 Mice were looked upon, in some districts of the 

 country, as the medium for the cure of coughs and 

 colds. 



One must journey well south to meet the Dormouse. 

 At times a specimen turns up in the more northern 

 regions, but it is in the southern counties of England 

 that the Dormouse is truly a native. Amongst the 

 hedge-rootlets, brambles, and thick patches of low 

 bushes, the nest may be discovered, and in such places 

 the rodent forages for its food-supply. Fruit, nuts, 

 and the like, are loved by Dormice, and for these they 

 will readily climb the stems and dine before returning 

 to terra-firma. Any sort of grain is also looked upon 

 as a dainty by these creatures, or, indeed, almost any 

 seed suffices to quench the hunger of the Dormouse 

 once it is out in quest of food. Failing vegetable 

 substances, a stray insect or a caterpillar is not passed 

 unwittingly. As autumn approaches, the animal takes 

 on a certain amount of fat, and meantime has built 



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