THE DORMOUSE 67 



I had feared from the first, my efforts to save their 

 lives were in vain, I could not pull them through, 

 and their skins are now with other specimens 

 in my collection. These poor little things made 

 valiant efforts to sit up and wash their faces, by 

 passing their paws over their heads ; and even to 

 draw their nest around them. Nest-making and 

 the toilet appear to be the two great interests 

 of a dormouse, and it will dress its fur most 

 elaborately. I have watched one part the fur 

 down its back with its paws, and carefully lick 

 the length of the parting, and thus work right 

 across its back, licking and parting at lightning 

 speed, and twisting its head and shoulders round, 

 until it looked as if it would twist its head off. 

 It then picked up its feathery tail, and as carefully 

 licked that appendage. Its head and ears had 

 been thoroughly attended to earlier in the pro- 

 ceedings, when it washed its face after the manner 

 of a cat, licking a paw, passing it behind one 

 ear, and drawing it forward over its nose, giving 

 it another lick, and repeating the process. 



In its manner of feeding the dormouse is as 

 dainty as it is in its person : it takes in its mouth 

 that upon which it is going to feed, sits up on its 

 hind-legs, transfers the nut or whatever it may 

 be to its fore-paws, and then gnaws at the treasure- 

 trove in a steady and businesslike manner. It 

 is astonishing how much one of these mice can 

 dispose of at a sitting, but it must be remembered 

 that for a considerable period they do not eat 

 at all. 



