WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



paddle off when there was not the least need 

 except that they chose to swim. 



To go back to the subject of the young 

 ones, even when of some size they keep up 

 their shrill squeaking. This is quite different 

 from the voice of the old animal, which, when 

 it does give tongue at all, utters a subdued 

 grunting noise. If hurt or terrified, the hedge- 

 hog will sometimes utter a piercing shriek, 

 which has been compared with the wail of a 

 baby, but as a rule it is silent. Hedgehog 

 families are never very large, three or four 

 being the most usual number, two being some- 

 times met with, five or six being more rare. 

 The young may be born as early as April, but 

 the majority come into the world during June 

 and July, and sometimes later. When an 

 early family has been brought up and got rid 

 of, the second may be reared in August. 

 Round my home the young ones are chiefly 

 found in June, after the hay has been cut. 

 Then one may see them as the light fades and 

 the dew falls following their mother out to 

 hunt for grubs in the newly cut grass. It is 

 a quaint and charming sight to watch two or 

 three little ' urchins ' toddling to and fro, while 

 their parent hunts industriously between the 



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