CHAPTER III 

 THE DORMOUSE 



ONE of the shyest yet most attractive of 

 our smaller animals is the dormouse, 

 it is such a dainty yet reposeful looking 

 little creature. There is something so round, soft, 

 and comfortable about a well-fed dormouse that 

 it is a joy to look upon. It is a pretty yellowish- 

 buff in colour, with a long, flattened, and slightly 

 bushy tail. Its underparts are white ; it has 

 big dark eyes, and fine whiskers, and it always 

 keeps itself spotlessly clean. Despite its name 

 of Dor-mouse, it is a totally distinct creature 

 from the long-tailed field mice and the voles, 

 also from the common house mouse, being, if 

 one may so express it, merely a distant cousin, 

 though classed, along with squirrels, rats, rabbits, 

 etc., in the great order Rodentia. 



The dormouse is essentially a climber ; it spends 

 the greater part of the year up aloft, where it 

 weaves itself the snuggest and warmest of nests. 

 Its favourite haunt is hazel coppices, but even 

 where it is plentiful a good deal of knowledge 

 and observation are required to find one of these 



