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THE DORMOUSE. 



The dormouse, like the marmout, is a torpid ani- 

 mal, unable to encounter the severities of cold ; and 

 previous to the approach of the winter season, they 

 form a little magazine of stores. This food, which 

 they collect and put carefully into their nests, consists 

 of nuts, beans, and acorns, which they keep in reserve 

 in case of feeling a temporary renewal of their appe- 

 tite ; but if the season proves very cold and intense, 

 they remain rolled up like a ball during the whole of 

 the time, without refreshing their bodies by sustenance 

 of any kind. 



The eyes of this little animal are remarkably bril- 

 liant, and its tail is tufted like that of the squirrel's ; it 

 never approaches human habitations, but resides en- 

 tirely in a coppice or high wood, and makes its nest, 

 which is lined carefully with moss, in the hollow of 

 some decayed tree. There are three different spe- 

 cies of this animal, which Mr. BufFon distinguishes by 

 the loir, the lerot, and the muscardine ; the former of 

 which is nearly the size of a rat, and the latter (which 

 is the most common) not bigger than the domestic 

 mouse : it never has more than three or four young at 

 a time, and that only once in the year. 



THE MUSK RAT. 



Of this animal there are three species, each possess- 

 ing that powerful smell from which they originally de- 

 rived their name. The ondatra is a native of Canada, 

 and nearly the size of a rabbit ; but what renders it 

 different to every other quadruped, is, that it is capa- 

 ble of enlarging or contracting its body at pleasure : 

 this effect is produced by a large muscle lying directly 



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