HEDGEHOGS. 



The manner in which they eat the roots of the plan- 

 tain in my grass walks is very curious : with their 

 upper mandible, which is much longer than their 

 lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root 

 off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. 

 In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy 

 a very troublesome weed : but they deface the walks 

 in some measure by digging little round holes. It 

 appears, by the dung that they drop upon the turf, 

 that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. 

 In June last, I procured a litter of four or five young 

 hedge-hogs, which appeared to be about five or six 

 days old ; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, 

 and could not see when they came to my hands. No 

 doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of 

 their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a 

 bad time of it in the critical moment of parturition : 

 but it is plain that they soon harden ; for these little 

 pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides, 

 as would easily have fetched blood, had they not 

 been handled with caution. Their spines are quite 

 white at this age ; and they have little hanging ears, 

 which I do not remember to be discernible in the old 

 ones. They can, in part, at this age, draw their skin 

 down over their faces ; but are not able to contract 

 themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of 

 defence, when full grown. The reason, I suppose, 



bles, is very fond of eggs, doing considerable mischief by de- 

 stroying game during the breeding season. It will even enter a 

 hen-house, and, when within its reach, will turn off the hens, 

 and devour the eggs. They are frequently caught in traps, 

 baited with eggs, for the carrion crows. They are easily tamed, 

 and become very familiar in a state of confinement ; will eat 

 bread, potatoes, fruit, flesh raw or cooked, without any appa- 

 rent choice. W. J. They will soon learn to distinguish the 

 person by whom they are fed, and will uncoil themselves at the 

 sound of his voice. W. C. T. 



