8 Christy, TJie Ajident Legend as to the Hedgehog 



Rev. W. l)ingley {Memoirs of Brit. Quadrupeds, p. 238: 1809); 

 J. L. Knapp, y(y?/r«. of a Naturalist, 3rd ed., pp. 130-134: 1830); 

 W. MacGillivray {^«V. Quadrupeds, p. 119: Naturalists' Libr., 1838); 

 Capt. Thomas Brown {Anecd. of Quadrupeds, pp. 101-102 : 1831)*; 

 J. H. Fennell, Nat. Hist, of Quadi-upeds, p. 39: 1843); Thos. Bell, 

 {Brit. Quadrupeds, p. 108: 2nd ed. 1874); R. Lydekker {Roy. Nat. 

 Hist., i., pp. 318-321) ; H. E. Forrest {Fauna of Shropshire, pp. 42-43: 

 1899); Sir Harry Johnston {Brit. Mammals, pp. 55-59: 1903); 

 J. G. Millais {Mammals of Gt. Brit, and Ireland, i., p. 109-122 : 

 1904); and G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton {Brit. Mammals, ii., p. 68: 

 1911). 



Among other testimony, I have that of Mr. J. Edmund Harting, 

 F.Z.S., a leading authority on the habits of British Mammals, who 

 writes me that he regards the old Hedgehog and Apples Legend as 

 " wholly incredible." 



A piece of testimony which points in a direction entirely opposite 

 to most of that given above has been sent to me recently by Miss A. 

 Hibbert-Ware, F.L.S., who is interested in the little Museum at St. 

 George's-in-the-East, London. Writing on 21st November 1918, 

 she says ; — 



" I was busy this morning at the Museum, arranging bracken and 

 leaves round a stuffed fox recently lent, when there came in a Russian- 

 Polish peasant, who had left his own country thirty years ago. My 

 occupation led him to tell me a great deal as to his recollections of the 

 animals of Russia — foxes, wolves, bears, etc. Just as he was leaving, 

 he caught sight of a stuffed Hedgehog in one of the cases. 



" ' What do you call that animal ? ' he asked. 



" When I had told him, he exclaimed to my astonishment (for I 

 had heard of the Hedgehog and Apples Legend) : — 



" ' How often, in Russia, have I seen those little animals walk away 

 with apples or pears upon their backs.' 



"What!" I exclaimed. "Would you mind repeating what you 

 said, for it interests me ? 



" ' They come,' he replied, ' to the apples lying on the ground, 

 below the trees, and roll themselves up into a ball right on the top of 

 them (imitating his meaning with his hands), and then they walk off 

 v^^ith two or three sticking upon the prickles of their backs. I have 

 never seen one content to carry off a single apple only : they always 

 have two at least.' In his part of Russia (he added), ' there could be 

 few or no people who had not seen it done many times.' 



" When I asked what he supposed the Hedgehogs did with the 

 apples, he said he had always supposed they took them to their young. 



* He expresses entire scepticism as to the transport of/rMiVby the Hedgehog, 

 but, somewhat inconse(iiiently, he cites (and clearly credits) a case (see ante) of one 

 having carried off pheasants' eggs on his spines. 



