FOREST TITHES 23 
ful, particularly large bluebottle flies. They do not 
get all they capture, though, for wasps come and 
take the bluebottles out of the web piecemeal the 
head goes first, and the body is left for a second 
journey. Full well do the spiders know the differ- 
ence in the sound of the hum of a fly's wing and 
that of a wasp. When the latter comes to rob their 
webs they do not show themselves ; but directly a 
bluebottle gets meshed, they make a tiger-like rush 
for it. 
The hedgehog, urchin or hedge-pig of Shakespeare, 
is very little understood so far as his habits are con- 
cerned. I have seen some recent statements in 
various papers to the effect that hedgehogs will kill 
young fowls, as if this were a new fact for the edifica- 
tion of their readers. Not only will they kill the 
young ones, but the old ones are not safe from them, 
if in a coop. The foot of Master Hedgehog is sure to 
be put in or on it if he gets the chance. I have even 
seen our friend described as ' our poor little perse- 
cuted English porcupine.' That he can never be, for 
his habits are nocturnal, and no one considers him 
worth looking after, unless it be a gipsy, who has a 
taste for baked hedge-pig. He is not so harmless, 
however, as some other creatures. A very large 
hedgehog is quite capable of killing a wild rabbit. He 
