THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
doing good rather than harm to garden or orchard by its visits, 
it survives numerously in the midst of civilization, and few 
animals have been so closely watched or so well ‘“‘written up.” 
The following is from Maunder’s “Treasury” : — 
“When molested, it instantly rolls itself into a sort of ball and presents 
but its prickles to the foe; and the more the animal is irritated and alarmed, 
the more firmly 
does it contract 
itself, and the 
more stiff and 
strong does _ its 
bristly panoply be- 
come. Thus rolled 
up it patiently 
awaits till the 
danger is passed: 
the cat, the weasel, 
the ferret, and the 
marten soon de- 
cline the combat; 
and though a well-trained, wire-haired terrier or a fox may now and then be 
found to open a hedgehog, it generally remains impenetrable. 
“The hedgehog is strictly nocturnal, remaining coiled up in its retreat 
during the day, and wandering about nearly all the night in search of food. 
It generally resides in small thickets, in hedges, or in ditches covered with 
bushes, making a hole about six inches deep, which it lines with moss, 
grass, or leaves. The hibernation of the hedgehog is undoubted; although 
it lays up no store for the winter, it retires to its hole, and in its warm, soft 
nest of moss and leaves it lies secure from the rigors of the frost and the 
violence of the tempest, passing the dreary season in a profoundly torpid 
state. The female produces from two to four young ones early in the sum- 
mer, which at their birth are blind and covered with soft white spines which 
in two or three days become hard and elastic. The flesh of these animals, 
though generally rejected as human food, is said to be very delicate.”’ 
EUROPEAN HEDGEHOG. 
Although the little animal feeds mainly on slugs, snails, insects, 
etc., and its services are constantly requested in country kitchens 
infested with cockroaches, it also eats birds’ eggs, mice, frogs, 
toads, and even snakes, and its eagerness to attack and devour 
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