Natural History 479 



impervious to stings) , and the honey from the humble-bees' store. 

 Another factor is its burrowing habit, for its "earth" or "set" goes 

 far in and may have several entrances. It is made comfortable 

 with bracken and herbage, and is kept fairly clean. Moreover, one 

 must attach survival value to the education which the mother 

 badger gives to her silvery-grey cubs. There are usually just two 

 or three of them, born in spring. When they have got their sight, 

 some ten days after birth, and had their usual gastric education on 

 milk, they are taken outside the warren and well groomed. Then 

 comes schooling, and the mother is a stern disciplinarian. She 

 punishes the inattentive and foolhardy, and gradually instructs 

 them in the way in which they should go. 



The Hedgehog 



The Hedgehog is an old-fashioned insectivore that holds its 

 own well from Britain to the Ural Mountains. It does so in 

 virtue not of brains or of weapons, but because of other fitnesses. 

 Many of the hairs have been transformed into sharp spines, which 

 are erected by the smooth muscles at their base when the animal 

 is touched. They also serve to break the force of a fall when the 

 Hedgehog, a good climber, tumbles from a wall or a tree. A 

 very strong dome of muscles beneath the skin (see cut facing p. 

 491) rolls the animal up into an unopenable ball. The senses are 

 acute; the prolonged snout is well suited for probing into holes; 

 there is a wide range of appetite earthworms, grubs, slugs, and 

 small snails; and the mountain-top-like cusps on the back teeth 

 are well suited for crunching these. The constitution is very 

 tough, and if the Adder an inveterate enemy of the Hedgehog- 

 gets a bite in, the venom has no effect. Experiments with poisons 

 and with such germs as that of diphtheria have proved the re- 

 fractoriness of this common creature. Although it has few ene- 

 mies, it adds to its safety by resting during the day in a 

 well-hidden recess, and hunting by night. There are often two 

 litters (usually of three or four) in the year, and the young one is 



