50 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



VI. 



THE HEDGEHOGS HOLE. 



THE broken ground in the warren near Tom 

 Fowler's cottage is full of burrows of every 

 description, from the big badger's-nest by 

 Chimney Rock to the rabbits' holes and tiny 

 shrew-runs that honeycomb the soft mould 

 beside the landslip. Among them are some 

 which I know from the pattering tracks at 

 the mouth or entrance to be the haunts of 

 spiny hedgehogs the long interval between 

 the prints of fore and hind feet, and the deep 

 toe-nail marks in the damp clay are quite 

 unmistakable ; and as we want a tame hedge- 

 hog to keep down the cockroaches in our 

 lower premises I have turned out to-day, 



