108 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1865. 



THE HEDGEHOG. 



rpHE Hedgehogs kept by Professor Buckman in 

 -*- the Geological Museum are old friends of 

 mine, for I was the curator of the said museum at 

 the time, and I took as great an interest in the 

 "pets" as my good friend and teacher did. I can 

 ■R'ell remember, however, what Mr. Buckman has 

 not mentioned, that they were not the sweetest or 

 cleanest of pets, and decidedly untidy in their habits, 

 and that having once collected for them a quantity 

 of black slugs, they devoured them in so foul a 

 manner, leaving mutilated molluscous scraps in all 

 sorts of corners, that we gave them no more of 

 such juicy food, and, finally, voted them not quite 

 desirable indoor pets ; so, if I recollect rightly, they 

 were popped in a bag, and sent as a present to a 

 worthy clergyman in Cirencester, our former chap- 

 lain, from whose garden they very soon made theif 

 escape. 



I wonder if my friend 'remembers the snake we 

 had in the museum about the same time, and how, 

 one day, it was missing from its box, and what a 

 search was instituted from one end of the college to 

 the other, — 



" In the highest, the lowest, the loveliest spots," 



and all to no purpose ; and how, at length, it came 

 to the ears of our good matron, who never went to 

 bed afterwards for months without expecting to find 

 a snake coiled up between the sheets. Many a good 

 laugh we had about it. 



The Hedgehog is still very common in the north 

 of England ; at least there are plenty on my own 

 farm in Cheshire. I quite agree with Mr. Buckman 

 that it is one of our most useful animals, and I always 

 save a Hedgehog from the " barn-door savages " 

 when I have an opportunity, pointing out to them 

 the absurdity of supposing that a cow would let such 

 a prickly milker have anything to do with her ; but 

 I cannot quite acquit the Hedgehog of all mis- 

 chievous propensities, for I know that he will take 

 young chickens, having caught him in the very 

 act. 



The summer before last we had a hen with a 

 brood of chickens placed in a coop near the back- 

 door, in which they were left to roost. One night, 

 as usual, I went out to look round just before going 

 to bed, and found that the hen had forced her way 

 out of the coop, and was covering her chickens out- 

 side ; and as I passed the coop I heard a slight 

 rustling and a soit of crouching noise within it, and 

 upon looking in I found that a Hedgehog had 

 pushed his way through the bars, and there he sat 

 making a fine feast of one of the chickens, and so 

 intent was he upon his meal, that, even when I 

 threw the light of my lantern upon him, he was not 

 a whit abashed, but, in the most impudent way pos- 



sible, sat crunching the bones before my very 

 eyes. 



There is generally some foundation for most 

 widely-spread popular opinions, and looking at the 

 fact which I have just stated, I think there is every 

 probability that the Hedgehog will eat both the 

 eggs and the young of such birds as build their 

 nests upon the ground ; and small blame to him. 

 HoBERT Holland. 



VIPER SWALLOWING ITS YOUNG. 



ryiHE writer of the article at p. 4 clearly does not 

 -°- credit the assertion there alluded to, of the viper 

 swallowing its young. Now, " seeing is believing," 

 and I well remember having seen in my boyhood — 

 some 30 years ago — an instance of the fact, the truth 

 of which he doubts, because resting merely on the 

 testimony of unscientific country people. Now, I 

 have no pretensions to science, but I vouch for the 

 truth — above referred to — of having, in my boyhood, 

 — when out on a birds'-nesting expedition, in a 

 southern county, with some three or four companions, 

 —come suddenly upon a viper, sunning her young 

 brood on an open grassy spot in a broad hedge- 

 row : hedge-rows were common in those days. Im- 

 mediately she saw us, she began to hiss, and away 

 went the young', previously some feet from her, 

 ''helter-skelter" towards their mother; rushed into 

 her mouth— expanded to an immense width for so 

 small a creature — and down her throat, one over the 

 other, while you could say " Jack Robinson." The 

 space where she was recreating was some 20 feet 

 square, so that before she could beat to cover, we, 

 boylike, being armed with sticks, had beaten her to 

 death. This done, one of the party with his knife 

 opened the body, and out came again the little ones, 

 all of which we killed, I do not remember the exact 

 numbei', but my impression is that it was not more 

 than 6 or 8. In confirmation of this statement I 

 give you my real name and addi'css below, and 

 here subscribe myself, 



A Norfolk Clekgyman. 



Nature is a great artist, when she is left to her- 

 self to suit her means to her end. — Lamartine. 



The vast cathedral of nature is full of holy scrip, 

 tures, and shapes of deep, mysterious meaning; 

 but all is solitary and silent there; no bending 

 knee, no uplifted eye, no lip adoring, praying. Into 

 this vast cathedral comes the human soul, seeking 

 its Creator; and the universal silence is changed to 

 a sound, and the sound is harmonious, and has a 

 meaning, and is comprehended and felt. — Longfelloio' s 

 Hyperion. 



