EARLY LIFE OF A HEDGEHOG. 217 



should, I have attended upon him so constantly. There can be 

 no doubt hedgehogs are partially fruit eaters. I should think 

 they eat any fallen fruit they come upon ; there is no doubt 

 about Peter's taste for it. Did you know they have a very keen 

 scent ? If I see where a beetle has run across and pick him up 

 and set him on the spot, he takes up the scent at once, and fol- 

 lows tbe track of the beetle. I can hear him snuffing quite 

 distinctly. The beetle has very little chance of escape, he runs 

 so fast. He uses his fore-feet for scratching a great deal; always 

 scratches at the slugs before eating them. If I offer him one on 

 my finger he always pulls it off with his hand and gives it a few 

 scratches before he bites it. He shows a decided preference for 

 nocturnal insects. Daddy-long-legs are an especial dainty; 

 though he is very fond of moths. Twice when I have been cruel 

 enough to catch him a fine fresh white butterfly he has not eaten 

 it, but it may be he is only not hungry in the daytime now. 

 You should see him attack an egg ! but he has not accomplished 

 breaking one for himself yet. He can curl quite round now, 

 but never sets up his bristles to me, though he does to the others 

 sometimes, and he has a little temper of his own. I vexed him 

 once and he gave such a scream ! not a squeak but a scream. 

 A day or two ago I took him up in the daytime, and in a few 

 minutes he fell sound asleep on my hand. Just turned over on 

 his side, shut his eyes, and gradually, very gradually, closed up 

 till I could just see the soles of his little hind feet. Sometimes 

 he goes on the kitchen hearth and makes himself as flat as a 

 flounder. He evidently likes to feel the warmth. He can flat- 

 ten himself out till quite a hollow comes in his back ; his bones 

 must be very supple. I still take him into the garden every 

 evening for about an hour. On damp evenings tbere are a lot 

 of huge worms lying along the grass ; Peter seizes hold of one 

 end, but they generally manage to shrink back into their holes. 

 Sometimes, however, he gets one out, and runs off with it to a 

 quiet corner. It is always dark when this takes place, so I 

 cannot see him eating them, but I hear a great chewing going 

 on, and if I lift him up he still keeps hold of the worm." 



On the 3rd of Sept. the hedgehog was taken to ^Newcastle, 



