Quadrupeds. 4011 



making his appearance till evening ; the locality he prefers, a thick 

 wood, from which he rarely emerges but to trot round the hedge-rows 

 in search of food ; his natural timidity, never venturing out till all is 

 still, and ever and anon stopping to listen ; his customary diet, such 

 as I have above described, and with which no one can find fault, I 

 think he well deserves to be called "harmless," although an instance 

 may here and there occur of his forgetfulness of his natural shyness, 

 and his intrusion into the hen-house. 



The barn-owl and tawny owl were once supposed to be guilty of 

 endless enormities, and were ranked amongst the most destructive and 

 noxious of birds ; but since Mr. Waterton's admirable Essays in their 

 defence, no naturalist can be found so bold as to question their inno- 

 cence, though in those very Essays one is shown to have occasionally 

 varied his diet with game and the other with fish. I wish the hedge- 

 hog had been treated to a whole Essay to himself from the same 

 inimitable pen ; but, as it is, I would draw attention to the phrase, 

 a harmless little creature," as applied to the hedgehog by that prince 

 of naturalists: and the author of the ' Journal of a Naturalist' de- 

 scribes it as " the most harmless and least obtrusive creature in 

 existence." 



In conclusion, let me remark of the latter part of Mr. Catchpool's 

 account, that though perhaps the death of the hedgehog was the only 

 result to be expected from the man when he discovered the attack on 

 his poultry, yet it is refreshing to find that such dire vengeance does 

 not always follow the discovery of poor piggy's peccadilloes ; for in a 

 former number (Zool. 1634) we read that when caught in the act of 

 devouring eggs, he was only removed from the scene of his festivities, 

 but w T as still permitted to enjoy his liberty. This humane sparer of 

 the poor hedgehog in the midst of his many foes, was a very Hyper- 

 mnestra among the Danaides : and when he carried forth the prickly 

 ball to a distance from his house, he may have addressed him in the 

 words of that exemplary young lady : — 



" I ; velut nactae vitulos leaenae 

 Singulos (eheu !) lacerant ; ego illis 

 Mollior, nee te feriam, neque intra 



Claustra tenebo. 

 I, pedes quo te rapiunt, et aurae, 

 Dum favet Nox, et Venus: i secundo 

 Omine." 



And we may conceive with what a grunt of satisfaction the poor hedge- 

 pig must have listened to these immortal lines of the poet, and with 



