84 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



day has departed ; for he is a nocturnal beast and spends 

 the hours of sunshine in heavy slumber. So deep is his 

 somnolence, and so low his temperature, that one not 

 accustomed to his ways might easily imagine him to be actually 

 dead. It is not a case of " sleeping with one eye open " with 

 the Dormouse ; he needs, as it were, to be shaken to arouse 

 him. One autumn many years ago we frequently found the 

 empty shells of cob-nuts in our greenhouse, and were somewhat 

 puzzled to account for their presence. A thick row of cob- 

 bushes in our neighbour's garden ran along the back of the 

 greenhouse, but we never suspected that they were haunted by 

 Dormice. One day in selecting a flower-pot from a number of 

 empty ones that lay " nested " one within another a hoard of 

 splendid nuts was found occupying the available space in 

 several of them. Then a common box mouse-trap was set, and 

 next morning it contained a plump Dormouse, curled up on its 

 back with all the appearance of death, and it was lifted out 

 by the tail without immediately awaking. Four or five were 

 caught in this manner on successive nights. 



For diurnal privacy and comfort the Dormouse constructs a 

 globular nest of twigs, moss and grass, about three inches in 

 diameter (sometimes with a circular opening), which may be 

 among the stubs in the coppice, beneath a tussock of grass, or 

 even suspended high up in the bushes. The nursery nest is 

 twice this size. In some districts the nest will be constructed 

 of the bark of old honeysuckle stems, which shreds off in 

 ribbons. The inner lining is of the same material more finely 

 divided, with a bed of leaves. Several litters of three or four, 

 or even six or seven, blind and naked young are born in spring 

 or summer ; but there are also records of young being found in 

 September or October. Having regard, however, to the 

 hibernating habit of the species it is probable that these perish, 

 for autumn -born young would scarcely be in fit condition to go 

 without food for a long period. In their first coat the young 



