THE GARDEN DORMOUSE. 15 



cage. It did not sleep much in the daytime, when a slight noise 

 would rouse it. It would then climb about in the cage, and take 

 food out of the hand. In the woods, too, I have repeatedly found 

 this species of Dormouse to be lively in the daytime. 



By chance I became possessed of a second specimen of 

 Myoxus quercinus, which was also of the male sex. No sooner 

 had I put it with the other one (in the daytime) than a serious 

 fight commenced between them, which, like several others which 

 took place the same day, was soon settled by my energetic inter- 

 ference. The next day, however, they seemed to agree, thence- 

 forth living in tolerable peace, in consequence doubtless of the 

 abundance of biscuits and fruit in the cage. Neither of them 

 ever attempted to secure their liberty by nibbling the wooden 

 bottom of the cage or its angular supports, which were also made 

 of thin wooden strips. In order to cleanse the cage thoroughly 

 from time to time, I put them into a bag made of canvas, in 

 which they climbed about without injuring it. 



As soon as I discovered their partiality for fruit and lard, 

 I decided to try and secure a few more specimens by means of 

 the well-known cage-trap used for birds. To effect this I fixed 

 some food on the treadle, and scattered some hemp-seed and 

 pieces of nut-kernels on the bottom of the trap, placing it, 

 well covered with moss, amongst underwood not too dense, at 

 the height of about a yard from the ground. It often happened 

 that a Long-tailed Field Mouse, Mus sylvaticus, instead of the 

 Dormouse I wanted, got caught, and nibbled its way through 

 the cover of the trap, which did not quite close when shut, light 

 and air being admitted by the crevice. Trusting to the different 

 habits of the Dormouse, I did not stop up the hole through 

 which the Long-tailed Field Mouse escaped, the result being 

 that none of the many which I caught with this trap during that 

 summer attempted to escape by enlarging the opening already 

 made. They all waited quietly until released, even one which 

 died in the trap— owing to my inability to visit it through illness — 

 made no such attempt. 



The tail of this species of Dormouse is very brittle, so to 

 speak ; it more than once happened that a piece broke off in 

 my hand while swinging the animal by that organ. Another 

 specimen, which got caught by its tail between the lid and the 

 edge of the trap, managed to get away, owing to my carelessness 



