TEE HEDGEHOG. 



liberties with the abode of the mole or some other burrowing 

 animal. A rabbit-burrow is not considered by the hedgehog 

 to be bad lodging; or perhaps, and considering the many young 

 rabbits running about, it would be more correct to say board 

 and lodging. 



The nest of the hedgehog is a curious edifice, and so admir- 

 ably contrived with a thatching of leaves, that during the 

 heaviest rains the tiny hedgehogs within remain snug and dry. 

 The young come into the world about May, and look certainly 

 as though they would never grow up to be like theu- parents. 

 They are very Uttle, and, when born, deaf as well as bUnd. 

 The quills on their backs are soft and delicately white, and 

 beneath them the tender pink skin plainly shows. While still 

 in its babyhood, the hedgehog's tail plainly shows, because its 

 bristles are not sufficiently .long to cover it ; in the adult ani- 

 mal, however, unless the tail be searched for, it is not apparent 

 — it is very short, not exceeding three quarters of an inch in 

 length. 



The hedgehog's spines are of very singular character ; their 

 elasticity is marvellous. Mr. Bell relates that a hedgehog be- 

 longing to him was in the habit of fearlessly throwing itself 

 off a wall fourteen feet in height, trusting to the elasticity of 

 its spines to save it from injury : it made no stop or hesitation, 

 but threw itself over at once, contracting into a ball as it fell, 

 and, after it reached the ground, it would lie quiet for a few 

 moments, and then unfold itself and run off. 



The way in which the spines of the hedgehog are attached 

 to its skin is very remarkable ; thanks, however, to the Rev. J. 

 G, Wood, the reader may be made easily to comprehend the 

 manner in which the spines are set, " through the medium of 

 a piece of leather and a few pins : Take a piece of tolerably 

 stout leather, and push a dozen pins through it up to the very 

 head. Now bend all the pins so that their points will form 

 an angle of about 45° with the leather. That is the way in 

 which the spines are fixed to the skins ; but if we wish to see 

 how the hedgehog is enabled to raise these spines, we must do 

 something more. Take a piece of linen and lay it against the 

 inner side of the leather, fastening all the heads of the pins to 

 it. Now if you draw the linen towards the direction in which 

 the points of the pins lie, you will find that all the pins will 

 stand upright, the pins forming levers of which the sHn is the 

 fulcrum. The linen will represent that extraordinary muscle 

 which lies under the skin of most animals, and is developed to 



