CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 1. RODENTIA. 
423 
THE DORMOUSE. 
usually built in the shrubs of a thicket or wood. It climbs trees, and often makes its nest in the 
fork of a tree or shrub. 
It takes its food holding it in its hands, and sitting on its haunches like a squirrel, and often 
suspends itself by its hind-feet, in which position it feeds as easily and comfortably as in the more 
ordinary attitude. Toward the winter it becomes exceedingly fat, and having laid up a store of 
food, retires to its little nest, and coiling itself up into a ball, with the tail over the head and back, 
becomes completely torpid. A mild day occasionally calls it into transient life; it then takes a 
fresh supply of food and relapses into its former slumber; and finally awakening in the spring, at 
which time it has lost much of its fat, it enters upon its usual habits, and the enjoyment of the 
conjugal and parental affections. The young, which are generally about four in number, are born 
blind ; but in a few days the eyes are opened, and in a short time they are enabled to seek their 
food independeTitly of the parent's care. There is reason to b3lieve that, in some cases at least, 
the dormouse has a second brood early in the autumn. It is nocturnal in its habits. 
We are told that a dormouse having been taken in its nest in the middle of December, the 
heat of its captor's hand and the warmth of the room completely revived it, and it nimbly scaled 
the furniture, finding no difficulty in ascending and descending the ]3olished backs of the chairs, 
and leaping from chair to chair with great agility. On being set at liberty it sprang at least two 
yards to a table. It did not seem alarmed at being taken into the hand. In the evening it was 
placed with its nest in a box, and the next morning had relapsed into torpidity. Another account 
informs us that a dormouse, which had been sent a distance of one hundred and forty miles, was 
apparently but little disturbed by its ride. From that time till the first of April, it slept in 
its snug dormitory, a deal-box lined with wool, when it awoke, and readily ate of apples and nuts. 
It was easily alarmed, being more timid than tame, but showed no signs of anger on being taken 
in the hand. As it slept the greater part of the day, its habits could not then be studied ; but 
toward evening it woke up, and was very lively and frolicsome, running, on being let out of its 
cage, up the bell-rope, where it would sit for hours in the folds of the knot, timidly watching the 
movements of the persons around. It is found all over Europe, and is common in England, where 
the other species are not found. 
Gervais notices as a distinct species of Dormouse the Loir Glis, M, Glis, which he describes 
as being five inches long, with a tail four inches, and found in Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and 
