THE MAMMALIAN FAUNA OF CHESHIRE. 171 



Order Rodentia. — Family Sciurid^. 

 Sciurus vulgaris, L. ; Squirrel. — This species is very plentiful 

 in Delamere Forest, and is common in the parks, woods, and 

 coverts throughout the county. It is persecuted by gamekeepers, 

 and may often be seen in their " museums." Oldham once 

 watched a Squirrel for some time in a beech at Capesthorne. The 

 road beneath the tree was covered with the half-ripened fruit 

 which the little creature had dropped, and it was seen that where 

 the involucre had been gnawed through so as to expose only one 

 shrivelled and barren mast, the remaining masts were also barren ; 

 whereas fruits which, judging from the size of the cells, had con- 

 tained well-developed masts, had been gnawed through inde- 

 pendently on either side. The Squirrel is partial to mushrooms, 

 and will also, occasionally at any rate, eat poisonous fungi 

 (C. Wolley-Dod, * Field,' Sept. 29th, 1893, p. 491). 



Family Myoxid^e. 

 Muscardinus avellanarius (L.) ; Dormouse. — The Dormouse 

 has been recorded from several localities in Cheshire, and is 

 probably more common than is generally supposed ; but, owing 

 to its nocturnal and retiring habits, and the secluded nature of 

 its haunts, it is doubtless often overlooked. Byerley says, " Mr. 

 Brockholes has seen it in Prenton Wood." Mr. Newstead, in 

 his list, mentions one found by his father " in the hollow of an 

 old apple-tree at Thornton-le-Moors in the autumn of 1885." 

 Mr. Thomas Worthington informs us that he frequently met 

 with this species at Peover from forty to fifty years ago, and we 

 have reliable evidence that it is still to be found there. Mr. H. 

 H. Corbett says (in lit.) that Dormice were common in the woods 

 at Alderley about thirty years ago. Mr. J. Kenyon, Lord Eger- 

 ton's head-keeper, states that he has occasionally found Dormice 

 in the woods on the Tatton Estate. In the * Manchester City 

 News' for March 3rd, 1883, a short account of this species is 

 given by J. F. Robinson, who says :— " It can be met with in the 

 summer season at the foot of the Woodhouse Hills [near Frod* 

 sham] in sheltered sunny nooks, where I have found four nests, 

 each containing young, all in a radius of three or four yards." 

 One was captured in its nest in the Goyt Valley, above Errwood 



