300 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



which it collects in a desultory manner near its winter nest. 

 The hibernation of the hedgehog is as thorough as that of 

 many animals in severer winter climates ; but it diminishes 

 in the case of many of the other insect-eaters and rodents to 

 a few prolonged sleeps during the sharpest spells of frost. 

 On mild winter nights the wood-mice are as active as in 

 October, when they collect and eat their heaps of berries in 

 old birds' nests, as was described in a former chapter. They 

 are among the most nocturnal species of their family and its 



DORMOUSE 



associates, as is indicated by the large size of their eyes and 

 ears the eyes being large so as to make the most of the 

 scanty light, and the ears to supplement it by the sense of 

 hearing. Besides the fruits and berries which they heap 

 together in autumn, they will eat farm and garden seeds, 

 roots, leaves, bulbs, the stems of flowers, and the bark of 

 twigs and saplings. They also feed occasionally on insects. 

 Though the most numerous of species of their group, they 

 seem also to be one of the quietest. Now and then they are 

 found by day, running along a bough in a thick hedge, or 

 sitting up with their sensitive ears feeling the air ; but from 



