90 HEDGE-HOGS. 



By my journal it appears, that curlews clamoured 

 on to October the thirty-first ; since which, I have 

 not seen or heard any. Swallows were observed 

 on to November the third. 



XXVIL 



HEDGE-HOGS 1 abound in my gardens and fields. 

 The manner in which they eat the roots of the 

 plantain in my grass walk 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 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 hedge- 

 hogs, 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 

 moment of parturition : but it is plain that they 

 soon harden ; for these little pigs had such stiff 



1 The hedge-hog feeds indiscriminately on flesh and vege- 

 tables, is very fond of eggs, doing considerable mischief by 

 destroying game during the breeding season. It will even 

 enter a hen-house, and when within its reach, will turn off the 

 hens and devour the eggs. They are frequently caught in 

 traps, baited with eggs, for the carrion crows. They are 

 easily tamed, and become familiar in a state of confinement; 

 will eat bread, potatoes, fruit, flesh, raw or cooked, without 

 any apparent choice. W. J. 



