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hedgehog is said to consist principally of worms, slugs, 

 snails, and frogs, and some kinds of grass and roots for 

 procuring which his nose is well adapted. He is said too to 

 have & penchant for hen's eggs, when the nest happens to be 

 within his reach an unfortunate partiality, which not 

 unfrequently brings on the purloiner immediate execution, 

 and is probably the only cause of a bad name being given 

 to the whole family. When met with on the road he 

 usually stops and fixes his glassy eyes upon you, but if not 

 rudely interfered with does not change his position. It is 

 only when his instinct tells him that he has to do with 

 deadly foes human or canine that he turns in his crested 

 snout, and, rolling himself up, presents to his assailant a 

 round ball of acuminated spikes. 



Passing down the lane on an early autumn morning on 

 almost every bush may be seen the radiated circle of the 

 Geometric Spider ; while on the grass below, glittering in 

 the dew, hangs in profusion the silken webs of the Gossamer. 

 The latter, it is said, has the art of weaving a balloon with 

 threads from its own body, by aid of which it can sail 

 through the air. In this way are to be accounted for the 

 slender lines we often meet with, stretched from hedge to 

 hedge, or tree to tree. 



In summer months the lane is rich in insects of different 

 shapes and colours, a description of which is not within the 

 compass of my feeble pen. It is interesting to watch 

 their eccentric movements, from the rapid flight of the 

 gorgeous Dragon-fly down to the mazy dance of the 

 smallest Gnat. In the day Butterflies of various hues 



