HEDGEHOG 



strewn hedge-bottom, copse or wood, setting out on its 

 nocturnal wanderings as soon as the sun goes down. 

 Its diet consists of slugs, snails, insects, worms, frogs, 

 toads, and, it is said, young birds. The general form is 

 so familiar that detailed particulars are unnecessary ; 

 but the shortness of the legs, the profusion of hair on the 

 under parts of the body, and the bright, black eyes, are 

 worthy of mention. It measures over all about ten 

 inches in length. 



During the early days of Summer, the female produces 

 her young, the nest being placed at the foot of a tree, 

 as well as in woods, hedges, under faggot stacks, and 

 even in barns and outhouses. They number from two 

 to four, bearing, during infancy, soft, white spines. 

 These soon harden into the prickly appendages known to 

 all those who have endeavoured to fondle such an 

 armoured baby. The young are bhnd at birth, 

 resembling in this respect most other creatures (including 

 birds) that are born in a nest. In Winter the Hedgehog 

 lays up in a torpid state, quietly sleeping until the call 

 of Spring bids it awaken. The number of dead speci- 

 mens that are to be found in the early days of a New Year, 

 tempts us to suggest that in some seasons there is a certain 

 mortality among them, due, perchance, to an unexpected 

 awakening and consequent lack of food. It is an in- 

 veterate enemy of snakes, and even the poisonous Adder, 

 or Viper, is no match for this interesting creature when 

 the Hedgehog has declared a state of war between the 



two, and no armistice will be recognised. 



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