238 BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



It was put into a dormouse cage immediately when 

 caught, and a few days afterwards produced eight young 

 ones. I entertained some hope that the little animal 

 would have nursed these, and brought them up ; but, 

 having been disturbed in her removal, about four miles 

 from the country, she began to destroy them, and I took 

 them from her. The young ones, at the time I took 

 them from her, were not more than two or three days 

 old, and must have been at least equal in weight to the 

 mother. After they were removed, she became recon- 

 ciled to her situation ; and, when there was no noise, 

 would venture to come out of her hiding-place at the 

 extremity of the cage, and climb about among the wires 

 of the open part before me. In doing this, I remarked 

 that her tail was prehensile, and that to render her hold 

 the more secure she generally coiled the extremity of 

 it round one of the wires. The toes of all the feet are 

 particularly long and flexile, and she could grasp the 

 wires very firmly with any of them. She frequently 

 rested on her hind feet, somewhat in the manner of the 

 jerboa, for the purpose of looking about her ; and, in 

 this attitude, could extend her body at such an angle as 

 greatly surprised me. She was a beautiful little animal, 

 and her various attitudes in cleaning her face, head, and 

 body with her paws, were particularly graceful and ele- 





