THE HEDGEHOG OR URCHIN. 267 



spring, however, do so in a feeble and half-comatose 

 condition. Nature's wakening, like nature's falling 

 asleep, comes by degrees. The first journey forth 

 is slow and short, for the creature is sorely handi- 

 capped by the softness of its paws. This is nature's 

 safeguard against the overloading of the stomach, 

 the muscles of which have become weak by long 

 inaction. A few mouthfuls of food gathered near 

 the den, and the tenderness of the feet sends it 

 back to cover, where its stomach has ample time 

 to recover ere again it sallies forth this time a 

 little farther ; and so on till its normal condition 

 is regained. 



The hedgehog does not lay up a winter store, 

 as do mice and squirrels. Its store is on its back, 

 and serves not only as sustenance during the 

 foodless days of sleep, but also to exclude cold. 

 The storage habit does not seem to exist in the 

 case of this creature. There is no reason to think 

 that it ever resorts to stowing food in its den or 

 elsewhere ; its method of going through life is to 

 gorge to repletion, sleep, then gorge again. Its 

 food is generally abundant ; it will feast on carrion, 

 apart from the varieties of fresh food which are 

 generally at hand ; and, if astir during the lean 

 nights of winter, it will visit village garbage-heaps, 

 eat its fill, and den behind the open kitchen door if 

 such shelter be undisputed. Normally it has little 

 fear of man ; in midwinter it has none ; but, as 

 previously stated, hedgehogs that are astir at this 

 time are probably sick, or they denned up in poor 

 condition. 



INDIVIDUALITY. 



There is a good deal of individuality among 

 these creatures; that is, an individual specimen 



