286 THE COMMON DORMOUSE. 



During the winter, they are to be found only in 

 a torpid state, in the burrows which they form in 

 the ground; each in its separate hole, rolled closely 

 up like a ball. But as, in the course of that season, 

 they are liable to be sometimes revived by the 

 warmth of sunny days, they store up, previously 

 t6 their retirement, a sufficient quantity of nuts, 

 acorns, and other provisions, to support them when 

 they are thus occasionally roused from their slum- 

 ber. 



Some very interesting observations respecting 

 the hibernation of these animals were made in the 

 year 1792, by a gentleman of Middleshaw, whose 

 name is Gough. He procured, in the month of 

 January, two Dormice, which had been taken from 

 the woods only a few days before they came into 

 his hands; and confined them in a cage furnished 

 with a thermometer, and placed in a chamber 

 where no fire was kept. They were supplied regu- 

 larly with water, and with food, consisting of hazel- 

 nuts and biscuits. The weather in February being 

 warm, for the season, at the beginning and end of 

 the month, and frosty from the 16th to the 28th, 

 Mr. Gough had an opportunity to observe, that 

 whenever the thermometer, which was attached to 

 the cage, fell to 42, the Dormice became inactive, 

 and remained apparently insensible as long as the 

 heat of that part of the chamber did not exceed 

 the above-mentioned temperature ; but whenever 

 the mercury reached 47, they became very sus- 

 ceptible 



