XXXI.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER XXXI. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



HEDGE-HOGS abound in my gardens and fields. The manner 

 in which they eat the roots of the plantain in the grass-walk 

 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 



HEDGE-HOG AND YOUNG. 



this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very trouble- 

 some 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 five or six 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 darn 

 VOL. I. o 



