KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



315 



as many thousands are pining to come back. 

 Most of our young clerks are breaking stones upon 

 the highways — a mode of practising " vulgar 

 fractions" they little dreamt of, when quitting 

 salaries of £180 to £250 a year, in England, to 

 search for gold, abroad. Well ! good comes out of 

 evil very often. When these young sparks return, 

 let us hope they will have become " seasoned" by 

 adversity, and better able to judge when they are 

 "well off."] 



The Dormouse. — It may assist the interesting 

 inquiry instituted in your last, about the tail of 

 the Dormouse, if I send you some extracts I have 

 copied from a recent number of " Household 

 Words." At the same time, a good idea may be 

 obtained of the animal's habits. The French call 

 him " Croquenoix " or " crack walnut," but school- 

 boys like him best under the English name. The 

 great point of the Croquenoix or Dormouse, in 

 the estimation of schoolboy fanciers, is its tail, on 

 the length and beauty of which depends its value. 

 Every other feature is sure to be pretty, but the 

 tail itself is exceedingly fragile and precarious. 

 If you lay hold of him by the tail while he is wide 

 awake and in a state of alarm, he will make his 

 escape most unexpectedly, by leaving the member 

 (or its skin with the fur) in your hand. And a 

 dormouse is not like a lizard ; he cannot reproduce 

 the loss. The disfigurement is never afterwards 

 repaired. Therefore, the importance attached to 

 the tail. The boys are the authority that there is 

 a marked difference between the tails of the French 

 and English dormouse. Therefore, they are pro- 

 bably, if not two distinct species, at least two de- 

 cided and permanent varieties. Let us suppose so. 

 The dormouse makes a round little nest of dried 

 leaves, moss, and dead grass, and places it on the 

 ground, or on the branch of a low bush. Here he 

 sleeps all winter in solitary repose ; — every indi- 

 vidual having a nest to himself — waking now and 

 then on mild days, to munch a morsel of his nutty 

 store. In confinement, dormice live happily 

 enough in company, but the accustomed materials 

 of their native habitation must be supplied to them 

 for bedding ; hair, wool, and what we might think 

 warm and comfortable proving injurious to their 

 health. It is odd that, although their home is 

 amongst the trees, upon the branches, and in a 

 chalk-bottomed forest where there is not a single 

 permanent pond or brook, they are nevertheless 

 very thirsty creatures, and are exceedingly fond 

 of washing their face and hands. Except during 

 rainy weather, the dew on the leaves must be the 

 only available water they can find. The staple of 

 their diet is nuts; almonds are particularly delighted 

 in ; but they now and then enjoy a green hazel- 

 leaf, or a slice of ripe fruit. Wild cherries abound 

 in the forest ; and the stones of these, which you 

 find on the ground, often bear evidence of having 

 had their kernels emptied by dormice. The little 

 beast is not so foolish as to crack his nuts ; that 

 would give him unnecessary trouble He makes 

 just one little hole in the shell, about as big as a 

 pin's head, and through that he extracts, or laps 

 out, the kernel with his tongue. By the way, he 

 laps his drink like a dog or cat ; and if he is very 

 tame, or very thirsty (I would not say which), 

 when you handle him, he will gently lick the 

 moisture of perspiration from off your hand. Of 



course, he knows a good nut from a bad one, as 

 soon as he touches it, without further ado. They 

 readily breed in captivity, producing from five to 

 eight at a birth. They come into the world blind 

 and naked, and must not be disturbed too early in 

 the nest, or the mother will prove infanticide. 

 Otherwise, her affection for them is extreme ; 

 to secure a nest of young ones insures the 

 securing of their parent. She will run squeak- 

 ing down the branch of a tree into your very 

 hand, with the delicate bristles of her tail 

 erect, her eyes flashing tiny sparks of fire ; in short, 

 the miniature of a raging lioness. And her bite, 

 though it won't do much more than draw blood, 

 like a pin-prick, is sharp enough to make you cry 

 out " oh ! " and laugh at the same time. When 

 the little ones make their appearance out of doors 

 at last, and play about with their dam at night — 

 for their general habits are completely nocturnal 

 — and whisk their delicate feather-like tails, and 

 twinkle their round black bead-like eyes, they are 

 very taking little animals. And, as in other 

 members of their tribe, those brilliant eyes are so 

 convex and short-sighted, that you may watch 

 them close at hand without their being aware of 

 it ; if you will only keep yourself quiet and silent. 

 They must be kept in strict confinement, or they 

 will hop off for a ramble, and forget to return. 

 Still, they are used to a settled home, and like to 

 have an apartment which they can call their own. 

 We have shut our young friends out of their 

 bed-chamber, and they have opened the door with 

 their own little hands, to force their way back 

 again in spite of us. I say "hands," because 

 " fore-paws" would not convey the use that is 

 made of them. One poor fellow, being tired of a 

 truant excursion in my bed-room, crept under the 

 carpet for a quiet day's rest, and was unfortunately 

 crushed there. A woodman, to whom we had 

 given a general order, brought us in a large party 

 of dormice. Next morning, three of them had 

 escaped from their cage. One bold fellow was 

 perched on the rod which supports the window- 

 curtains ; the other two were cuddled together in 

 the folds of the muslin, fast asleep, and rolled into 

 a ball. In winter their sleep is so sound that 

 respiration is suspended, and they are cold and 

 death-like. Many a poor little innocent has been 

 thrown out of the window by his capturer, under 

 the impression that the vital spark had departed, 

 while he was only slumbering a little more 

 profoundly than usual, and enjoying a complete 

 escape from the troubles of the world. — I trust 

 this very graphic description may be the means of 

 spreading far and wide the fame of this pretty 

 little animal. His fine sparkling eye, and his most 

 delectable tail, have oftentimes filled me with 

 admiration of his beauty. To see him curled up, 

 when asleep, would make anybody love him — at 

 least / think so. — Heartsease, Hants. 



Abstinence in the Spider. — The following is 

 copied from the Banffshire Journal. — " Mr. T. 

 Edwards sends us the following curious particulars : 

 Having mounted and arranged a number of birds, 

 I put them in a case. The case had lain aside for 

 a short time previous to the front, which is of 

 glass, being put on ; and during this time a spider, 

 doubtless on the look-out for a canny nook, 

 managed to take up his quarters among the birds, 



