74 ERINACEID^— ERINACEUS 



at first hang downwards, and the sucklings lack the power of 

 roUing themselves into a ball. But they leave the nest in about 

 a month, and grow so rapidly that those of the spring litters are 

 to all appearances fully grown the same season ; those of the 

 autumn remain with their mother until they nearly equal her 

 in size, and they, perhaps, share with her their winter retreat.' 

 In an interesting article^ Major Spicer has described the 

 manner of suckhng. The mother "lay at full length on her 

 side, or rather nearly on her back, for their convenience, just 

 like an old sow with pigs in a sty, and the young ones worked 

 away at her paps, smacking their lips, and making almost as 

 much noise about it as young pigs would do : their cry when 

 not suckling is a sort of continuous short whistle or chirp, like 

 the cry of a bullfinch, and more like a small bird than an 

 animal." * The same mother when confined in a garden with her 

 young ones, which were about the size of small oranges, scratched 

 a hole under the fence and removed them one by one. She 

 carried them by the back of their necks in her mouth, and was 

 strong enough to trot with her burdens raised quite off the ground. 



Few people seem to have heard a hedgehog utter sounds more 

 distinctive than grunts, snorts, snores, or chuckles* of satisfac- 

 tion. Yet the animal makes a loud noise when in fear or distress, 

 a kind of wail, recalling the cry of a hare when in trouble.^ 



This is probably the same as the shrill cry mentioned by 

 Blundevill in the sixteenth century,® and it is variously described 

 as a " whining sound," '' or as a long succession of screeches or 

 screams.^ It was mentioned by Shakespeare in the famous 

 lines ' — 



" Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 

 Thrice ; and once the hedgepig whin'd," 



and it probably corresponds to the loud, cat-like squeals of 

 the Eared Hedgehog^" described by Miss Bate. 



1 Adams in MS., but hibernation is normally solitary. 



2 Zoologist, 1858, 6055-6056. 



2 Edward Jesse, ed. Selborne, 1854, 109, wrote of the young that "the incessant cry 

 they make for their mother when hungry leads to their discovery." 

 ^ Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, Field, 26th November 1898, 858. 

 5 See above, p. 61, when seized by a badger ; also Jones, Woodcraft, 1910, 15. 

 " See above, p. 68. v Editor oi Field, 26th August 1899, 294- 



8 E.g., by Moffat {in lit.). s Macbeth, Act iv., sc. i, line 2. 



'" Hemiechinus auritus (Gmelin). 



