300 
JERBOA. 
but one entrance; yet taught by a wonderful instinct 
to provide against danger, they make, from their 
nest, another passage to within a very small space 
of the surface, which in case of necessity they can 
burst through, and so escape. 
It has been observed of these animals, that they 
sleep rolled up, with their head between their 
thighs : that when kept in a stove and suddenly re- 
moved from the heat, they seem quite stupefied, 
and for a time scarcely find the use of their limbs. 
In the evening they leave their holes, and continue 
abroad till the return of day. They are very sen- 
sible of the approach of danger, and when alarmed 
immediately take to flight, and bound across the 
plain with such swiftness that it is exceedingly dif- 
ficult to overtake them. In making their, escape 
they do not go straight forwards, but turn from 
side to side in search of a burrow ; which, when 
found, they enter without ceremony, whether it is 
their own or that of another. When surprised, they 
will sometimes go on all fours ; but this seems un- 
natural to them, as they soon recover their former 
attitude. 
' These active creatures are easily tamed, and when 
domesticated seem very sensible of cold, always 
seeking a warm corner, and wrapping themselves 
up in hay on the approach of bad weather. Son- 
nini kept six of these little animals for some time, 
confined in a cage, without being able to observe 
that they were actuated by any particular passions ; 
even their gentleness was neither amiable nor in- 
