532 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



palisade round it. The substances of which it is composed are of 

 two kinds, namely, grass-blades and leaves of trees, the former be- 

 ing 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 219. 



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. Toward 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 to- 

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

 which belorig 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 very easy matter, even when its precise position is 

 known ; and in order to show the manner in which it is construct- 

 ed, 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 re- 

 leased from pressure they spring back over the aperture, and con- 

 ceal it in a very effectual manner. 



Although the Dormouse uses this aerial house as a residence, 

 it does not make use of it as a treasury. Like many other hiber- 

 nating animals, it collects a store of winter food, which generally 

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

 are carefully hidden away in the vicinity of the nest, and in the 

 illustration the animal is shown as eating a nut which it has taken 

 from one of its store-houses beneath the thick branch. During 

 the winter the animal does not feed much upon its stores, inas- 

 much as it is buried in the curious state of hibernation during the 

 cold months. At the beginning of spring, however, the hiberna- 

 tion passes off, and is replaced by ordinary sleep, with intervals 

 of wakefulness. 



Now, while the animal hibernates, the tissues of the body un- 

 dergo scarcely any changej even though no nutriment be taken. 



