68 THE ZOOLOGIST, 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



The Building of a Dormouse's Nest.— A Dormouse (Muscardiniis 

 avellanarius) that I have had in captivity since the middle of September 

 has built three successive nests. The whole process was so unexpected 

 that an account of it may not be without interest to readers of 'The 

 Zoologist.' The Dormouse was kept in a large box with a glass front, 

 rendering observation easy. The bottom was covered with a thick layer of 

 sand, surmounted by a quantity of fine hay. At first the little animal used 

 to sleep curled up in one corner, where its weight formed a slight hollow in 

 the hay. Soon afterwards it took to burrowing in the hay till it was 

 invisible. The hay and sand used to be changed every few days. It pre- 

 ferred acorns to any other food, and drank a good deal of water, sitting on 

 the edge of the glass, and stooping down till the lips were immersed. It 

 slept all day as a rule, but often woke up for a short time in the afternoon, 

 retiring to rest again till about 11 p.m. I presume it was awake most of the 

 night, as the bulk of its food was taken then. About Nov. 20ih the Dor- 

 mouse ceased coming out in the afternoon ; so, supposing it was about to 

 enter on its winter sleep, I stopped changing the hay. A few days later I 

 noticed the hay in one spot was raised into a litile dome, where the Mouse 

 was ensconced. This dome increased in tize daily, and then a small hole 

 appeared in one side, through which the Mouse could be seen curled up 

 inside. Further, it could be seen that the hay was no longer a mere mass 

 of stalks roughly thrown together, but the stalks in the interior were neatly 

 arranged in concentric curves. In short, the Mouse had made a hollow 

 spherical nest in the middle of the hay. I never saw it at work, however, 

 till oue evening about 9 o'clock ; I heard it moving, and watched what 

 happened. It was inside the nest, all but its head and fore-paws. These 

 last were working with an energy quite surprising in so indolent an animal, 

 trying to scratch towards it a hay-stalk in front of the nest. Finally 

 it seized it by the middle, and dragged it backwards into the nest. Now, 

 rolling itself into a ball, the Mouse began to revolve inside the nest. Over 

 and over it went, time after time, by its movements smoothing out the hay, 

 at the same time rounding the interior of the nest, and pushing it out- 

 wards. There seems no reason to suppose that this Dormouse adopted a 

 different plan of nest-building in captivity from that which it used in 



