68 



NA-fURAL HISTORY. 



guished from it by 

 its long snout, which 

 it uses in grubbing 

 the earth in search 

 of worms and in- 

 sects. The Water 

 Shrew dives and 

 Fig. 5i.-shrew Mouse. swims with great ce- 



lerity, and lives on the grubs of aquatic insects, which it 

 digs out of the mud with its snout. 



111. The Hedgehog, Fig. 52, is the only animal in En- 



gland that has its 

 skin armed with 

 spikes. These are 

 its means of defense. 

 When attacked, it 

 rolls itself up, and 

 such is the arrange- 

 ment of these spikes 



that the tightening of the skin makes them all stand out. 

 A dog or a fox will not touch it then. Its food is in- 

 sects, snails, frogs, snakes, roots, etc. Dr. Buckland put 

 a hedgehog in a box with a snake. It gave the snake 

 several quick bites in succession, rolling itself up after 

 each bite. When the snake was sufficiently disabled, 

 the hedgehog ate it leisurely as one would eat a radish, 

 beginning at the tail. In winter this animal lies torpid 

 in a hole lined with grass and moss, and if discovered 

 looks like a ball of leaves, these having become fastened 

 to its spikes as it rolled itself among them. 



112. The Banxrings differ from the other families of 

 this order in being arboreal in their habits, ascending 

 trees with the agility of Squirrels, which animals they re- 

 semble in general appearance, but are easily distinguish- 

 ed from them by their sharp muzzles. 



113. The order Rodentia, or Gnawing Quadrupeds, has 

 eight families: 1. Squirrels. 2. Marmots. 3. Rats and 



