306 



of 



although it lays up no store for the winter, 

 it retires to its hole, and in its warm, soft 

 nest of moss and leaves, it lies secure from 

 the rigours of the frost and the violence of 

 the tempest, passing the dreary season in a 

 profoundly torpid state. The female pro 

 duces from two to four young ones early in 

 the summer, which at their birth are blind, 

 and covered with soft white spines, which in 

 two or three days become hard and elastic. 

 The flesh of these animals, though generally 

 rejected as human food, is said to be very 

 delicate. 



Many absurd errors prevail as to the 

 habits of this animal. It is charged with 

 sucking the teats of cows by night, and 

 wounding their udders with its spines, 

 thereby causing those ulcerations which are 

 sometimes observed : from this false accusa- 

 tion, however, the smallness of its mouth is 

 a sufficient exculpation. It is also said to 

 be very destructive to gardens and orchards, 

 by rolling itself among fruit, and thus car- 

 rying off a quantity on its spines : but its 

 spines are evidently so disposed, that no 

 fruit would stick on them, even were the 

 experiment attempted. But so far from 

 being mischievous and injurious, the Hedge- 

 hog is found to be of real use, and is often 

 kept for the purpose of ridding houses of 

 the numerous cockroaches by which some 

 are infested ; and it is well known to devour 

 many destructive insects of the beetle kind 

 and others, which are injurious to the farmer 

 and gardener. 



In the "Journal of a Naturalist," this 

 animal is thus noticed : " Notwithstanding 

 all the persecutions from prejudice and 

 wantonness to which the Hedgehog is ex- 

 posed, it is yet common with us ; sleeping 

 by day in a bed. of leaves and moss, under 

 the cover of a very thick bramble or furze- 

 bush, and at times in some hollow stump of 

 a tree. It creeps out in the summer even- 

 ings ; and, running about with more agility 

 than its dull appearance promises, feeds on 

 dew-worms and beetles, which it finds among 

 the herbage, but retires with trepidation at 

 the approach of man. In the autumn, crabs, 

 fruits, haws, and the common fruits of the 

 hedge, constitute its diet. In the winter, 

 covering itself deeply in moss and leaves, it 

 sleeps during the severe weather ; and, when 

 drawn out from its bed, scarcely anything 

 of the creature is to be observed, it exhibiting 

 only a ball of leaves, which it seems to attach 

 to its spines by repeatedly rolling itself 

 round in its nest." 



The SIBERIAN or LONG-EARED HEDGE- 

 HOG. (Erinaceus auritus.) This species is 

 in general larger than the common or Euro- 

 pean, ffld may be easily distinguished by 

 its ears, which are large, oval, open, and 

 naked, with soft whitish hair on the inside, 

 and edged with brown : the upper part of 

 the animal is covered with slender brown 

 spines, with a whitish ring near the base, 

 and another towards the tip, and the legs 

 and belly are clothed with soft white fur. 

 In its general manner and habits this species 

 is said to resemble the common Hedgehog. 

 The EARLESS HEDGEHOG appears to be only 



a variety of the common species : the head, 

 however, is somewhat shorter and the snout 

 more blunt ; there is no appearance of ex- 

 ternal ears ; it is shorter; and the whole 

 animal is of a whitish hue. 



HEDGE-SPARROW. [See SPARROW.] 



HELAMYS, or JUMPING HARE. This 

 animal constitutes a genus of mammalia, of 

 the order Rodentia, al lied to the Jerboas. The 

 head is large, the tail long, the fore legs are 

 very short in comparison with the hinder. 

 They have four molars, each composed of two 

 laminae ; their lower incisors are truncated : 



the fore feet have five toes, furnished with 

 long pointed nails ; the hind feet have four 

 toes, which are separate as far as the bones 

 of the metatarsus, and furnished with large 

 claws, almost resembling hoofs. The species 

 Helamys cajfer is pale fulvous, with a long 

 tufted tail, black at the tip. It is as large 

 as a rabbit, and, like it, inhabits deep bur- 

 rows. Our cut exhibits one about to spring, 

 while another is at the mouth of its bur- 

 row. 



HELARCTOS. A genus of Bears found 

 in India and the Eastern Islands. The Malay < 

 and Java Bears may be given as illustrations, j 

 [See BEAR.] 



HELICINA. A genus of Mollusca, found ; 

 in America and the West Indies. Some in- j 

 habit the sea, but others are terrestrial, either 

 feeding upon trees or subsisting on the vege- | 

 table productions of the fields and gardens. : 

 The head of the animal is furnished with a j 

 proboscis and two tentacula, with eyes at i 

 the base on tubercles ; foot short. The shell | 

 is of a flattened shape, mouth semicircular, ' 

 closed by a horny operculum, which is formed 

 of concentric layers, and permanently at- 

 tached to the foot ; outer lip thickened and 

 reflected, inner lip spread over the body- 

 whorl, terminating in a point. There are 

 a great many species. 



HELICONIDJE. A family of Lepidop- 

 terous insects ; in which the wings vary in 

 shape, but are often very long and narrow, 

 and the discoidal cell of the hind wings is ] 

 always closed ; the antennae are slightly I 

 clavate ; the palpi are short, and wide apart 



