216 HISTORY OF THE 



warmth has a great deal to do with his thriving. He squeaks 

 when he is hungry. I always let him run about the grass after 

 feeding him, and when he is tired I just hold the basket down 

 and in he creeps, making a little hole for himself by scratching 

 in the moss, and then curls round, tucking in his little head and 

 feet. He does not grow much however, so I think hedgehogs 

 must be slow-growing things, as he eats very well and appears 

 to be thriving." 



Extract from a letter from Miss A. to J. H. : 



"August 10th. The Hazels, Grimsby, Lincolnshire. ISTow 

 for Peter, which, I am sure, will be more interesting to you. 

 He is quite a big fellow now, and has adopted his natural noc- 

 turnal habits ; sleeps all day, and rouses up about nine o'clock 

 in the evening, when I take him into the garden for half an hour. 

 He runs so fast I have to keep my eye upon him as he starts off 

 hunting for himself now. If I had been at Oatlands or Cleadon 

 I think I would have let him off to fend for himself. He pounces 

 upon white slugs, worms, or beetles ; and I find he is very fond 

 of fruit. "Will eat, plums, greengages, or very ripe pears quite 

 greedily. Holds the fruit steady with his little hands and tears 

 it off. One evening I gave him an egg. He seized it but could 

 not break it, though he tried very hard. At last I cracked the 

 shell, and in the morning the shell was empty, so I think he 

 must have eaten it. He is left at liberty all night, but is always 

 found coiled up in his basket in the morning. There are a great 

 many cockroaches in the kitchen, and he is wonderfully quick 

 after them. Sometimes I look to see what he is doing in the 

 middle of the night, and he is darting about after the beetles. 

 He drinks a lot of water ; sometimes takes it in preference to 

 milk. It is very curious if he takes a drink of milk in the morn- 

 ing now it makes him sick. "We must get another young hedge- 

 hog next year for you to study." 



"August 25th. — Peter is very fond of sweet cake and fruit, 

 plums especially. The other day a spice loaf had been put on 

 to the pantry floor to cool, and Master Peter was found with his 

 fore feet upon it, and a hole eaten in the loaf. He is a great 

 epicure and very tame. Knows me from anyone else, but so he 



