6 Christy, The Ancient Legetid as to the Hedgehog 



At the end of the Seventeenth Century, the old Scottish naturalist, 

 Sir Robert Sibbald, wrote* that the Hedgehog: — "feeds on mice [!], 

 nuts, apples, and pears, which he sticks upon his prickles, and thus 

 carries home to his burrow."! 



In 1732, Mons. N. A. Pluche, a French naturalist, wrote: — + 



" Le Herisson fait un autre usage de la conimodite deses piquants. 

 II se roule sur les pommes, sur les grains de raisin, et sur tous les fruits 

 qu'il peut rencontrer sous les arbres, et emporte sur ses crochets tout 

 le plus qu'il peut. II mange ce qui presse le plus, et tache d'avoir des 

 noix pour I'arriere-saison. II passe I'hyver a dormir. 



In 1760, le Comte de Buffon, the great French^naturalist, wrote of 

 the Hedgehog : — § 



" Je ne crois pas qu'ils montent sur les arbres, comme le disons les 

 naturalistes, ni qu'ils se servent de leur epines pour emporter des fruits 

 ou des grains de raisin. C'est avec la gueule qu'ils prennent ce qu'ils 

 veulent saisir ; et, quoiqu'ils y en air un grand nombre dans nos forets, 

 nous n'en avons jamais v\l sur les arbres. lis se tiennent toujours au 

 pied." 



In 1794, the Rev. Patrick Russell, writing of Hedgehogs, says : — 1| 



" I have never seen them on trees, but I have certainly seen them 

 transporting grapes on their prickles, as likewise mulberries." 



He then proceeds to give a reference to the statement of ^'Elian quoted 

 at the outset. H His own observations (which are very much to the 

 point) must have been made (judging from the context and the nature 

 of his work) at Aleppo, in Asia Minor. 



In 1800, George Shaw, M.D., wrote: — ** 



" It is commonly said that the Hedgehog, in order to trans[)ort 

 apples and other fruit to its place of retirement, rolls itself upon them 

 and thus conveys them upon its spines. Whether this be accurately 

 true, I will not take upon myself to determine. 



* Scotia Illustrata, sive Prodrotnus Histories Naturalis, p. Ii (not the duplicate 

 p. 11), Edinh. , 1681. 



I . . . Vescitur muribus, nucibus, malis, pyris, qure aculeis suis insignit et in 

 domicilium suum reponit. 



% Le Spectacle de. la Nature, i. (1732), p. 353 (Paris, 7 vols., 1732 51). There 

 are many later editions and translations. 



% Histoire Naturelle, viii. (1760), p. 30. 



llA^aA I/ist. of Aleppo, 2nd Ed., edited by Rev. P. Russell, ii., p. 119 w. ; 

 Lond., 1794. 



1[ See ante, p. 2. 



** General Zoolo,!^}', i. (iSoo), p. 544. 



