NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 79 



LETTER XXVII. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Feb. 22nd, 1770. 



DEAR SIR, Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The 

 manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass- 

 walks is very curious ; with their upper mandible, which is much 

 longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the 

 root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In this 



HEDGEHOG. 



respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome 

 weed ; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little 

 round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the 

 turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June 

 last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which 

 appeared to be about five or six days old : they, I find, like puppies, 

 are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No 

 doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, 

 or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical 



