LETTER XXVII. 



To the same, 



SELBORNE, Feb. 22nd, 1770. 

 EAR SIR, Hedgehogs abound in my gar- 

 dens and fields. The manner in which 

 they eat the roots of the plantain 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 tufts 

 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 hedgehogs, 

 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 partu- 



