260 NATURAL HISTORY. 



hair is rather fair than red. It never lives in houses. 

 It is seldom to be found in gardens, but chiefly fre- 

 quents the woods, where it finds a shelter in the hollow 

 of some old tree. 



The species is by no means numerous, yet they 

 seem to be tolerably common in Italy, and to be known 

 even in the northern climates ; but it does not appear 

 to be an English animal ; for Ray, who had seen it in 

 Italy, observes, that the small dormouse which is found 

 in England is not red upon the back like the Italian, 

 and that it probably belongs to another species. 



The dormouse becomes torpid by the cold, and rolls 

 itself up in a ball ; it revives in mild weather, and 

 hoards up nuts and other dry fruits for future Suste- 

 nance. It forms its nest in trees, like the squirrel, 

 though generally in a lower situation, among the bran- 

 ches of a nut-tree, in a bush, &c. The nest is com- 

 posed of herbs interwoven, and is about six inches in 

 diameter, has no aperture but at the top, and contains 

 three or four young ones. 



THE BROWN RAT. 



THE brown rat is both stronger and more mischiev- 

 ous than the black rat. It has a reddish skin, a long 

 tail without hair, the back-bone arched like that of th 

 squirrel, the body much thicker, and whiskers like those 

 of a cat. It is not half a century since this species 

 has been found in the neighbourhood of Paris. They 

 multiply indeed prodigiously, for they generally pro- 

 duce twelve or fifteen, often sixteen, seventeen, eigh- 

 teen, and even nineteen young ones at a time. The 

 males are larger, stronger, and more mischievous thaa 



