THE DORMOUSE. 



515* 



One of these nests is depicted in the illustration, and the 

 specimen from which it is drawn forms a part of my collection. 

 It was situated in a hedge about four feet from the ground, and, 

 as may be seen by reference to the illustration, is placed in the 

 forking of a hazel branch, the smaller twigs of which form a 

 kind of palisade round it. The substances of which it is com- 

 posed are of two kinds, namely, grass-blades and leaves of trees, 

 the former being the chief material It is exactly six inches 

 in length by three inches in width, and is constructed in a very 

 ingenious manner, reminding the observer of the pensile nests 

 made by the weaver birds, which have already been described at 

 page 199. 



Two or three kinds of grass are used; the greater part being 

 the well-known sword-grass, whose sharp edges cut the fingers of 

 a careless handler. The blades are twisted round the twigs and 

 through the interstices, until they form a hollow nest, rather oval 

 in shape. Towards the bottom the finer sorts of grass are used, 

 as well as some stems of delicate climbing weeds, which are no 

 larger than ordinary thread, and which serve to bind the mass 

 together. Interwoven with the grass are several leaves, none of 

 which belong to the branch, and which are indeed of two kinds, 

 namely, hazel and maple, and have evidently been picked up 

 from the ditch which bounded the hedge. Their probable use 

 is to shield the inmate from the wind, which would penetrate 

 through the interstices of the loosely woven grass-blades 



The entrance to the nest is so ingeniously concealed, that to 

 find it is not a veiy easy matter, even when its precise position 

 is known, and in order to show the manner in which it is con- 

 structed, one of the Dormice is represented in the act of drawing 

 aside the grass-blades that conceal it. The pendent pieces of 

 grass that are being held aside by the little paw are .so fixed, 

 that when released from pressure, they spring back over the 

 aperture and conceal it in a very efiectual manner. 



Although the Dormouse uses this aerial house as a residence, 

 it does not make use of it as a treasury. like many other 

 hibernating animals, it collects a store of winter food, which 

 generally consists of nuts, grain, and similar substances. These 

 treasures are carefolly hidden away in the vicinity of the nest, 

 and in the illustratioa the animal is shown as eating a nut which 

 it has taken from one of its storehouses beneath the thick branch. 



LL 2 



