234 IN HIGH SUFFOLK 



have been feasting for weeks, pheasants have helped 

 them, sacksfull have been carried home by the wood- 

 man to grind and mix with bran for the sheep, and 

 pigs have forced their way through the fences to munch 

 their fill, yet the quantity on the ground seems now as 

 great as ever. In the ride we met a hedgehog, almost 

 the last creature to be expected on such a chilly day. 

 Generally piggy spends the winter coiled up in a bed of 

 leaves in a rabbit-burrow, under a root, or in the 

 centre of a thick bush, and sleeps till spring comes. 

 Perhaps this hedgehog had been idle in the summer, 

 and not laid up a store of fat to last him through the 

 winter ; so he was awake, and obliged to forage. He 

 was hunting eagerly, taking half the width of the ride, 

 and quartering it to and fro not very accurately, for 

 he did not keep straight lines, like a setter, but still 

 rarely going twice over the same ground. We ap- 

 proached slowly, for if a hedgehog is not disturbed 

 by a heavy footfall or sudden movement, it simply 

 disregards men. To and fro he went, poking his long 

 snout into every hoof-mark, and routing among the 

 oak-leaves. He seemed to find little, and to be very 

 hungry. Once or twice he put up his head and sniffed, 

 and stared at the figure above him ; but as it did not 

 move, he went on searching for a supper. As he 

 passed, we touched him a tergo with the gun-barrel. 

 He whisked round with prickles up, looking angry and 

 quite at a loss to understand what had happened. He 

 then examined the boots and tried to climb the leg 

 above, but could not get a foothold for his hind-feet. 



