778 Quadrupeds 



captured in September, have the fur of the throat longer than that of 

 the rest of the body, but the tippet is not so well denned as in those 

 taken in December. Query, Is this tippet a provision for the winter? 

 One of the tippeted specimens is in the British Museum. 



The Hedgehog abounds. My first introduction to this animal in 

 these parts was in January, 1838, and that under somewhat peculiar 

 circumstances : we were visited by a severer frost, and of longer du- 

 ration than is usual to this climate, and the ground was decked in a 

 thin coating of snow ; the day was beautifully bright, and though I 

 was at that time somewhat of an invalid, having been sent to pass 

 the winter in this best of British climates by my excellent friend, 

 Dr. C. B. Williams, I ventured on a stroll in the neighbourhood of 

 St. Lawrence. On rounding a projecting point of the cliff, I beheld 

 on the gronnd before me a creature which, at first view, not a little 

 puzzled me. Closer inspection showed me a hedgehog, with the 

 parts where the tail is situated towards me, and one hind leg stretched 

 far beyond what I should have supposed the full extent of a hedge- 

 hog's hind leg, over the animal's back, from which it was intently 

 scratching certain nameless parasites ; these little sanguinary crea- 

 tures having, probably like itself, been roused from a state of torpor 

 by the warm sunbeams. After some seconds it discovered the in- 

 truder on its privacy, and elevating its snout to an angle of 45° with 

 the plane of the horizon, with a view apparently to ascertain my 

 intentions, and not feeling, I suppose, sufficient confidence in my 

 humanity, it commenced and effected a cool and deliberate retreat to 

 its place of hibernation. I wish I could feel myself warranted by 

 facts to assert the positive harmlessness of the hedgehog. The paper 

 by W. H. S. in this month's ' Zoologist' (Zool. 715), reminded me 

 that in the manuscript I was about to forward you I had said nothing 

 on the subject. Personal observation does not authorise the expres- 

 sion of a very decided opinion. I have had many a hedgehog in my 

 possession ; for, when residing in Hertfordshire, I had a setter which 

 was remarkably clever at finding them ; and as surely as she found, 

 I carried them home, and turned them loose in my garden. For 

 bread and milk, and earthworms, they evinced a wonderful liking, but 

 with flesh or eggs I never tried them. So many instances of their 

 devouring eggs have, however, been reported to me, that I cannot 

 doubt the fact : but, admitting the fact, let it be also remembered that 

 an animal is not to be condemned because it occasionally does wrong: 

 (who of your readers will be content to bear such a judgment ?) Let 

 the amount of good and evil done be fairly weighed, and an equitable 



