Ground Vermin Habits of the Hedgehog. 423 



well defended body, and kill a young fowl or devour a 

 nestful of eggs. 



The nest of the hedgehog is generally placed in some 

 warm nook at the root of a tree, or in a fissure of a 

 decayed tree itself, care always being observed that the 

 entrance is large and easy of access, so that in the 

 event of a hurried retreat it may quickly enter, coil 

 itself into a ball, and remain defiant except to the hand 

 of man, who, of course, knows by more ways than one 

 how to move it out. Often the retreat is chosen among 

 rocks or large stones, and a warm, dry, sheltered crevice 

 provides the home of this eminently interesting animal, 

 while again it may adopt a rabbit burrow for its nest, 

 whence the rightful owners, no doubt, beat a hasty retreat. 



The greater number of hedgehogs hibernate during the 

 inclemency of the winter months, though not all, as 

 occasionally these animals have been observed passing 

 the winter in the same manner as the summer, except 

 always that their comfort cannot be so great, nor their 

 food so plentiful. However, those and they are by far 

 the greater number which pass into the peculiar state 

 of hibernation do not provide any food for themselves, 

 and are consequently of great interest for this reason. 



As soon as the winter is over, and they again take 

 up their usual routine of life, they make preparations 

 for breeding, and about May the litter is produced. The 

 young of the hedgehog are, without doubt, the queerest 

 little animals one could name, and until they commence 

 to develop their spines they might be regarded as bearing 

 a likeness to nothing one ever saw before. Curiously enough, 



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