70 



MAMMALS. 



results, as in the case of bats. The two degrees of torpor 

 are in fact quite different. 



Physically, save in colour, the dormouse bears but slight 

 resemblance to the squirrel, the most striking difference 

 being in the poverty of its tail. It is, however, in more 



reliable characters 

 that the student 

 -** has to seek the dis- 

 tinction between 

 them and the affin- 

 ity which the mem- 

 bers of the present 

 family have with 

 the mice. 



The food of the 

 dormouse resem- 

 bles, as already stated, that of the squirrel, but Mr Hart- 

 ing has noted an interesting difference in the fact that it 

 is in addition insectivorous. Although it con* 

 sumes, as implied by its specific name, large 

 quantities of hazel-nuts, other nuts of various kinds seem 

 to be equally acceptable. 



The nest is made in a hole in the ground or in some 

 tree; and dormice are known to have appropriated the 

 nests of jays and like birds, and to rear their 

 young in them, using the nest at a later date 

 for the winter slumber, in which, however, the 

 animal is thickly enveloped in a covering of dry grasses. 

 The young, three or four in number, are born in spring, 

 and some writers are of opinion that a second litter is pro- 

 duced in the autumn, at which season the dormice are very 

 fat previous to their retirement. 



In colouring, the dormouse is not unlike the squirrel, 

 being reddish above and white on the under- 

 parts. The ears, proportionally smaller than 

 in the squirrel, are never tufted. 



Food. 



Nest and 

 breeding. 



