DORMICE. 179 



early as the middle of October, the young ones are much later 

 in retiring from active participation in the affairs of the world. 

 A full account of the hibernation of the Dormouse will be 

 found in the Zoologist for 1882, in which the variation in its 

 temperature, its loss of fat, and the number of respirations 

 during its sleep, as well as the length of the period of torpidity, 

 are fully recorded. 



The female Dormouse gives birth to her offspring in the 

 spring, and the young, usually four in number, are born blind, 

 but open their eyes in a few days, and are very speedily able 

 to shift for themselves. Bell gives reasons for believing that 

 in some cases a second litter may be produced in the autumn. 

 In the first dress the young are of a mouse-grey colour, except 

 on the head and flanks ; and it is only gradually that the red- 

 dish-brown hue of the adult is required. 



If a sleeping Dormouse be found during the winter, and 

 taken to a warm room, it soon awakens,* but after a short in- 

 terval relapses into torpidity. Writing many years ago, Mr. 

 Salmon observes that on one occasion he chanced to find "a 

 little ball of grass curiously interwoven, lying on the ground. 

 It was about eight inches in circumference, and on taking it 

 up I soon ascertained, by the faint sound emitted from the 

 interior on my handling it, that it contained a prisoner. I 

 bore my prize homeward for examination, and on making a 

 slight opening, immediately issued forth one of those beautiful 

 little creatures, the Dormouse. The heat of my hand and the 

 warmth of the room had completely revived it from its torpor. 

 It appeared to enjoy its transition by nimbly scaling every part 

 of the furniture in all directions. It experienced no difficulty 

 in either ascending or descending the polished backs of the 



* Mr. Trevor-Battye says that if warmed suddenly into waking, a Dor- 

 mouse will die at the end of a minute or two, its heart beating with extreme 

 rapidity, like a clock " running down." 



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