CHAPTER XLIX. 



The Hedgehog an Egg and Bird Eater ? Bird-catching " Old Cowie " Mackenzie 

 Lanius Excubitor The Butcher- Bird or Shrike Tea drinking and Sobriety. 



Audi alterant partem is a sensible maxim, so reasonable in itself, 

 and mild and deprecatory of tone, that it rarely fails to commend 

 itself to our sense of right and candour ; for if we would arrive at a 

 right conclusion on any matter in dispute, we must learn to listen 

 without prejudice to both sides of a question. We can only hold 

 our own convictions wisely and well, by knowing all that can be 

 said in antagonism and per contra. The following letter from a 

 correspondent in London, who writes under the pseudonym of 

 " Observer," tells rather in favour of those who entertain grave 

 suspicions as to the morality and harmlessness of our prickly 

 friend the hedgehog, and, of course, against Mr. Frank Buckland 

 and ourselves. "We are honest enough, however, to give " Ob- 

 server's " communication in full, meanwhile merely remarking 

 that, obliged as we are to our correspondent for his attention, and 

 really interesting note, we are by no means convinced that the 

 hedgehog is either oviphagous or a bird-killer and bird-eater. At 

 this date [February 1876], and with all our knowledge of the 

 animal, we fear that nothing less than the catching of him in 

 the very act would convince us, any number of uncompromising 

 and hard-hearted gamekeepers, with "Observer" to back them, 

 to the contrary notwithstanding. 



** While perusing your interesting article on the hedgehog, some 

 slight personal experiences of this animal recurred to my mind, and I 

 therefore thought it might be as well to communicate them to you, to 



