268 The Irish Naturalist. [December, 18 



They were extracted after the shells had been strengthened with glue 

 and tow, but I never enjoyed looking at them, and finally brushed them 

 aside ; but the memory of the ruthless deed still lingers with me. 



Did the bird winnow the grass to close it over the nest, or was it to 

 decoy me in pursuit, as the Green Plover often had done, or was it 

 evidence of the maternal affection for her unfledged young, which I 

 have often witnessed in the Robin and Hedgesparrow during the last 

 stage of incubation, when they have allowed me to stroke them with 

 my finger— the same birds proving wild at earlier stages of the hatching ? 

 I have observed similar evidence of vitality in the eggs of wild birds, 

 though the eggs of domestic fowls are very perishable. 



H. L. Orr. 



Belfast. 



MAMMALS. 



The Hedgehog and Its food. 



In searching our banks and hedgerows, especially our railway cuttings, 

 I have observed countless numbers of broken shells of Helix nemoralis ; 

 these are strewed in the runs which are overhung with grass and herbage 

 and are, I strongly suspect, the work of the Hedgehog. Some time 

 ago I was fortunate in finding one, a fine specimen, rolled up in a bushel of 

 beech leaves. These were nicely compacted and apparently waterproof, 

 placed in a tangle of briars in a glen. We kept the little beast for some 

 time, and it was amusing to see how shy it was — the least noise or motion 

 making it coil up. After a time it became quite tame. 



I had heard it accused of eating eggs. I placed one oil the floor over- 

 night ; next morning I found the shell with a piece the size of a shilling 

 broken out of one side, and the contents clean gone. I supplied it with 

 some dozens of Helix nemoralis, and listened to it crunching them up, 

 separating and rejecting the shells, and swallowing the snails with 

 exceeding gusto. We cut a few of its bristles off to section for the 

 microscope, and set it at liberty. Has its propensity for eating snails 

 been noticed by others ? I have heard them sniffing in the early spring 

 morning in the hedges, and have heard at the same time the crunching 

 sound which I afterwards verified. 



H. Iy. Orr. 



Belfast. 



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