NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



dung. It also devours the eggs and young of snakes 

 and lizards which are usually plentiful in old stone 

 fences. Sometimes it takes up its quarters in the 

 thatch, or crevices in the vv^alls of farmhouses, and, 

 if not molested, soon becomes quite tame. It is 

 a beautiful little animal, and is seldom interfered 

 with by colonists. In fact, it is about the last 

 thing a farmer or his children would thiiik of 

 killing, for its appearance is so attractive, and its 

 movements so silent and graceful, that they all 

 learn to love the little creature. 



We have frequently kept these Dormice in cap- 

 tivity at the Port Elizabeth Museum, and have 

 found that their habits and ways are similar to 

 those of the Cape Dormice. They preferred meat 

 to any other form of food, and when it was withheld 

 for a couple of weeks and then "fed to them, they 

 ate it greedily. Their habit of hibernating during 

 the winter, and waking up to feed on warm days, 

 were similar to these habits in the Cape Dormice. 

 Like the other species, they reacted rapidly to a 

 change of temperature, for, when torpid, if sud- 

 denly placed in a warm chamber, or out in the 

 sunshine, they quickly became active and alert. 



They are cannibals, for, if several be placed 

 together in the same cage, the stronger will devour 

 the weaker ones. When one succeeds in killing 

 another, and providing it is not too severely 

 wounded, it always feeds upon the body of its 

 victim. 



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