490 THE DORMOUSE. 
tree. It is a very active little creature, leaping from branch to branch, and traversing the 
intricate mazes of the brushwood with such ready fleetness, that it can scarcely be taken by a 
human hand. Generally, when a Dormouse is captured, it is secured while sleeping in its 
nest, for during its slumbers it is so deeply buried in repose that it can be handled without 
offering resistance or attempting escape. The food of the Dormouse consists of various fruits 
and seeds, such as acorns, nuts, haws, and corn. 
As the animal is one of the hibernaters, it is in the habit of gathering together a supply 
of dried food, to afford occasional nourishment during the long wintry months when it lies in 
its bed, imprisoned in the bands of irresistible sleep. Like many other hibernating animals, 
the Dormouse becomes exceedingly fat 
towards the end of autumn, and is therefore 
enabled to withstand the severity of the 
winter season better than if it retired into 
its home in only its ordinary condition. 
As soon as the weather becomes cold, the 
Dormouse retires into its nest, and there 
slumbers throughout the entire winter, 
waking up for a short period whenever a 
milder temperature breaks the severity of 
the frost, and after taking a little nourish- 
ment, sinking again into its former lethargy. 
_ Several interesting experiments have been 
made on this animal in connection with 
the phenomenon which is termed hiber- 
nation, and with the same results as have 
already been mentioned when treating of 
the hedgehog and the bat. 
This hoard of provisions is not gathered 
into the nest, which is solely employed for 
the purpose of warmth and concealment, 
but is hidden away in sundry convenient 
nooks and crannies, close to the spot where 
the nest is placed. Comparatively little of 
the store is eaten during the winter, unless, 
COMMON DORMOUSE.—Muscardinus avellanarius. indeed, the weather should happen to be 
peculiarly mild, but it is of very great ser- 
vice in the earlier part of the spring, when the Dormouse is awake and lively, and there are- 
as yet no fresh fruits on which it could feed. 
The Dormouse is rather gregarious in its habits, so that whenever one nest is discovered, 
several others may generally be found at no very great distance. These nests are of consider- 
able dimensions, being about six inches in diameter, and are composed of grass, leaves, and 
similar substances. The entrance to the nest is from above. 
The young animals are generally three or four in number at a birth, and make their 
appearance about the end of spring, or the beginning of summer. It is probable that there 
may be a second brood towards the end of autumn, as Mr. Bell received from one locality in 
the month of September one half-grown Dormouse, which had evidently béen born in the 
spring, and three very little specimens, which were apparently not more than a week or two 
old. They are born blind, but are able to see in a very few days, and in a remarkably short 
space of time become independent of their parents. 
Like many other rodent animals, the Dormouse carries the food to its mouth with its 
fore-paws, while it sits upright on its hinder legs. It is also able to suspend itself by the 
hind-feet from any convenient branch, and may often be seen hanging in this manner, and 
eating as comfortably as if it were seated on firm ground. 
