THE HEDGEHOG OR URCHIN. 249 



Though seemingly nearly related, the similarity 

 between the hedgehog and the Canada porcupine 

 is not a lasting impression. The hedgehog is a 

 stoic ; the porcupine is impulsive and spasmodic. 

 Both depend on their quills for protection, and so 

 naturally have contracted certain habits that are 

 in common such as the habit of moving noisily 

 about, and the utterance of fretful sounds when 

 disturbed. The porcupine is almost exclusively a 

 vegetarian, and will remain in one tree till he 

 has stripped it of every leaf and bud, never de- 

 scending unless a golden opportunity of making 

 a nuisance of himself is seen ; but the hedgehog 

 feeds almost entirely on the earth. A porcupine 

 seldom diverts from a strictly vegetarian diet, and 

 I have never heard of a hedgehog eating green 

 vegetables of any kind. This creature is, indeed, 

 a purely carnivorous feeder. 



FOOD. 



A hedgehog will eat almost anything of animal 

 origin. Slugs of all varieties, many of which 

 birds will not touch, are perhaps its staple diet, 

 accompanied by every species of beetle and insect 

 that flies or runs. 



In Upper Wharfedale, near Burnsall village, 

 I possessed a unique opportunity of studying 

 the feeding habits of the urchin. A picturesque 

 wood, particularly rich in animal life, extends 

 from the moorland heights to the river-level, and 

 is bordered on its lower boundary by a wide belt 

 of sand, deposited by the main stream, which 

 every creature passing between the wood and the 

 lowland meadow must cross, thereby leaving the 

 record of its passing. 



The belt of sand is dotted over with pebbles 



