52 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



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Hedgehogs are really very common 



animals in England, and yet few people have 



any idea of their existence among half the 



hedges and banks in the meadows and copses 



around them. The little animals lie hidden in 



their subterranean holes or open nests during 



the daytime, and only come out in search of 



slugs, grubs, and beetles at nightfall. Yet they 



are a precious heritage of our age, for all that ; 



for they and the few other remaining members 



of the old insectivorous group form the last 



survivors of a very early and undeveloped 



mammalian type, the common ancestors of 



all our other European quadrupeds, who have 



diverged from them in various specialised 



directions. They rank as interesting middle 



links in that great broken but still traceable 



chain which connects the higher mammals 



with their lost and unknown semi-reptilian 



ancestors. Indeed, if we had never heard of 



the hedgehogs and their allies before, and if 



one were now to be brought for the first time 



by some intrepid explorer from Central Africa 



