so 



VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



VI. 



THE HEDGEHOGS HOLE. 



The broken ground in the warren near Tom 

 Fowlers cottage is full of burrows of every 

 description, from the big badger's-nest by 

 Chimney Rock to the rabbits' holes and tiny 

 shrew-runs that honeycomb the soft mould 

 beside the landslip. Among them are some 

 which I know from the pattering tracks at 

 the mouth or entrance to be the haunts of 

 spiny hedgehogs — the long interval between 

 the prints of fore and hind feet, and the deep 

 toe-nail marks in the damp clay are quite 

 unmistakable ; and as we want a tame hedge- 

 hog to keep down the cockroaches in our 

 lower premises I have turned out to-day, 



