ANECDOTES OF THE HEDGEHOG. 113 



vipers, and a tyrant over all manner of mice and such 

 small deer, and I thought it passing strange that he 



desired, what was the depredator. The other instance, of hedgehogs heing 

 frequently caught in nets placed to intercept rabbits, though not so conclusive, 

 certainly affords strong ground for suspicion. The bank, in which rabbits 

 abounded, was close to a piece of water, and the nets were set between the 

 burrows in the bank and the uplands, so that the only apparent temptation to 

 the hedgehogs was either the water, or the young rabbits. A. Hussey ; Rot- 

 tingdean." Zool. 857. 



" A few summers ago I placed a hedgehog in our garden, which, being 

 walled round, I was certain he could not escape from ; believing, then, in his 

 innocence, and fancying to myself the good he might do in the way of regaling 

 himself upon beetles, and other vermin. It chanced, however, that a brood of 

 young ducks, with their foster-mother, a hen, the latter under a coop, were also 

 placed there. Not many days elapsed before two or three ducklings were 

 missing; who the thief could be was a mystery, still the ducks disappeared, 

 one by one, or were found dead and mutilated. A cat was suggested as the 

 aggressor. No. A rat ! No, not likely. It could not be the hedgehog ? 

 Oh! certainly not. However, the remains of a dead one being left one morn- 

 ing a short distance from the coop, I fastened it in the evening to a trap, re- 

 moving the remaining live ones away, hoping thus to solve the riddle, and the 

 following morning there was my harmless hedgehog, caught in the very act of 

 making a grip at the poor little duck. The survivors were again placed in 

 their former situation, and remained unmolested, thus bringing home the guilt 

 to Mr. Hedgehog pretty conclusively. Christopher Parsons ; North Shoebury 

 Hall, near Rochford, Essex." Zoo]. 857. 



" A relation of mine, along with some other boys, at the ' Blaeberry time,' 

 this summer, alighted upon a pheasant's nest. Returning to the place a day 

 or two afterwards, curiosity prompted them to examine, and see how the eggs 

 fared. They were much surprised at finding a stranger inmate in occupation. 

 This was a hedgehog, which they had interrupted in the enjoyment of his am- 

 brosia. One taken into the house, ate apples, and supped porridge and milk 

 (for it was in Scotland), and when not otherwise engaged, delighted to roll 

 himself up in the coziest nook of the fire-place, which, as it was in summer, 

 was filled with shavings. James Hardy ; Gateshead." Zool. 857. 



" I have until within the last year or two been a strenuous defender of the 

 hedgehog from the charge of destroying game, which has been brought against 

 it. The facts mentioned in the * Zoologist' (Zool. 715), in the interesting pa- 

 per 'A Last Word for the poor Hedgehog,' together with the assertions of 

 several gamekeepers, with whom I have conversed on the subject, induced me 



I 



