Quadrupeds . 34 7 



now you have its head out, try and open its mouth, and just consider 

 for one moment, is it possible for that little mouth to suck the udder 

 of a cow, either having crawled up its legs, or having gone to it when 

 it was lying down ? 



G. — Indeed, Sir, it is not ! I am sorry I have allowed a vulgar 

 prejudice to satisfy me, without examining or thinking for myself. I 

 wish I had never killed one, or had one killed. 



C. — You are quite right. The food of the hedgehog in the sum- 

 mer consists of worms, snails, slugs, beetles and other insects. In 

 the autumn, when insects have become scarce, it is glad to pick up 

 hips and haws, crab-apples, and other wild fruits ; and in the winter 

 it goes into a torpid state, coiled up in its hole or nest, having first 

 (as is said) rolled itself on the dry leaves, which stick to its spines, 

 and make it a sort of outer covering. In the spring the warm weather 

 again sets its blood into circulation, and it comes out from its winter 

 retreat, to renew its good offices to you by destroying many insects, 

 which if not prevented by such means as this from becoming too nu- 

 merous, w^ould do the farmers more injury than they do at present. 

 In the mild summer evenings it is a very pretty sight to see it, as I 

 often have, stealing up the hedge-row sides in search of its food, but 

 the least noise scares it away, and it runs off to its lair, or if you come 

 very suddenly close upon it, it crouches down, in hope of escaping 

 observation. 



G. — John, bring the hedgehog here : — take the string off its leg : 

 now put it down, and let it run away ; and when you go home, mind 

 you tell your children what the priest has said. Be sure you never 

 worry another. 



John. — I'll never molest another. Master, as long as I live ; and 

 ril be certain to tell my bairns the same. 



{The hedgehog runs off, limping a little, hut evidently most happy 

 to escape, and is soon lost sight of in some long grass). 



F. O. Morris. 



Crambe Vicarage, August 1, 1843. 



Notes on the Squirrel. The squirrel, that lively little denizen of the woods, was 

 not at all common in Roxburghshire until lately. Within the last ten years or so its 

 numbers have much increased, and it has now spread over nearly the whole county. 

 Squirrels are most frequently seen during the spring and winter months. The thick 

 foliage of the trees in summer hides them from our view, and, as they are by no means 

 familiar animals, they often lurk unsuspected among the shady boughs in our in?rae- 

 diate vicinity. But when autumnal blasts have shorn the woods of their leafy honours, 



