THE HEDGEHOGS 



323 



young leveret, which it would doubtless have dispatched had it not been inter- 

 rupted. Hedgehogs venture forth from their hiding places in hedges, coppices, or 

 shrubberies during summer, as soon as the dews of evening commence, and may be 

 detected devouring worms or other prey on moonlight nights. A worm is eaten 

 slowly by being seized by one extremity, and turned from side to side of the mouth, 

 while it is being chewed by the sharp cheek-teeth ; much the same process taking 

 place in the case of a snake. 



Although properly nocturnal in their habits, they may occasionally be met 

 with searching for food during the day ; and it has been suggested that on such 

 occasions they are driven to depart from their ordinary habits by the necessity of 

 procuring a sufficient supply of food for their young, which are usually produced 



HEDGEHOG AND YOUNG. 



during the months of July and August, and are said not to exceed four in a litter, 

 although it was formerly considered that the number might be as many as eight. 

 Occasionally a second litter is produced during the autumn ; and it is believed that 

 the period of gestation is not longer than a month. The new-born young are 

 almost naked, and their imperfect spines are soft, flexible, and white, although 

 rapidly hardening in the course of a few days. They are at first totally blind, and 

 quite incapable of rolling themselves up. The nest in which the young are born is 

 carefully constructed, and is said to be always protected from rain by an effi- 

 cient roof. In winter the European hedgehog hibernates completely, laying up no 

 store of food, but retiring to a nest of moss and leaves, where, rolled up in a ball, 

 it lies torpid till awakened by the returning warmth of spring. As a rule hedge- 



