100 The Naturalist m Siluria. 



cannot tell ; but I should think not, and that the useless 

 afterwork was as that of certain tropical insects boring 

 hole after hole through a thin board, as a place of deposit 

 for their eggs, each time to find themselves back into 

 daylight on the reverse side. A like delusion has been 

 frequently observed in the case of the sand, or bank, 

 martin repeatedly tunnelling its way through a mud 

 wall. 



Small as is the Dormouse — its weight being under an 

 ounce — it is a very glutton, three kept by me in the same 

 cage consuming in a single night three full-sized chest- 

 nuts and fifteen hazel nuts, the shells excepted. In bulk 

 this mass of food eaten by each must have been equal 

 to its own body, even exceeding it. But their digestive 

 powers are great, and of quick action, as shown by the 

 quantity of droppings every day needing to be cleared 

 out of the cage. No sort of vegetable food offered them 

 will be refused j and though nuts are undoubtedly their 

 preferred diet, they have also a relish for apples. The 

 largest pippin dropped into a Dormouse's cage will soon 

 disappear, skin, seeds, and all. 



I have said that they do their eating chiefly by night, 

 and it is during the night hours they are awake and 

 active, sleeping most part of the day. If kept in a dark 

 place, there will be some modification in this habit, 

 though not much. About daybreak they invariably retire 

 to the dormitory compartment of the cage, to issue forth 

 from it at, or after, sunset. For in their wild state they 

 are habitually nocturnal, one of the reasons why so little 

 is seen or known of them. Tree climbers they are, too, 

 as much as pine martens or squirrels, if not more, though 

 generally contenting themselves with the ascent of hedge 

 bushes, or hazels, to the branches of which I have seen 



