THE DORMOUSE 69 



startling manner. As my mother and I were 

 coming out of church on the Sunday, I caught 

 sight of something yellow in the long fur of the 

 wrap she wore round her neck. It was the work 

 of a moment to ask her to stop, and next second 

 I had the missing dormouse in my hand ! It 

 must have got into her bedroom, then into the 

 drawer where her furs were kept, and, finding a 

 soft comfortable spot, had gone to sleep among 

 them. It had not been shaken out during the 

 mile and a half walk to church, nor during the 

 service, but I often wonder what the choir boys, 

 who were just in front of us, would have done 

 if it had waked up and taken a flying leap among 

 them could any boy have resisted making a 

 grab at it ? 



The dormouse, though so popular as a pet, 

 rarely breeds in captivity. I have never met 

 with any great success in this direction, owing 

 possibly to too much attention at the critical 

 time. Two litters were deserted by the mothers, 

 and in a third case the parent murdered her help- 

 less mites. By the way, a word of advice to any 

 one who has a pet dormouse, and that is not to 

 bring it into a heated room during the winter, 

 but to let it remain in a fairly cool place where 

 the temperature does not alter much. In a 

 warm place a dormouse is unable to enjoy that 

 sound winter sleep which is necessary to its well- 

 being. The warmth rouses it to an unnatural 

 activity, so that it is expending energy when it 

 should be hoarding it. At any time a rise in the 



