Practical Game-Preserving. 366 



breeding, and about May the litter is produced. The 

 young of the hedgehog are, without doubt, the queerest 

 little animals one could name, and, curiously enough, 

 the ears as well as the eyes of the brood are closed until 

 from fourteen to twenty days old. When about three months 

 old they are completely covered in their prickly armour, 

 but not until six months do they become full-grown. The 

 young number from three to five. 



In addition to the usual nest, the female constructs 

 another wherein to bring forth and rear the young, and 

 this is a model of comfort and neatness, composed of moss, 

 lichen, and similar materials, and so thatched with leaves, 

 &c., as to be impervious to the sharp showers of rain 

 frequent in springtime. 



The habits of the hedgehog are such as render it difficult 

 of capture except after evidence of its depredations have 

 become apparent, although once it be evident that the 

 vermin in question are in any numbers about the preserve 

 it is comparatively easy to take them fairly freely. The 

 ordinary spring traps for vermin are the most effective, 

 although they are quite as liable to be caught in any of 

 the others which I have referred to from time to time. 

 The usual bait for hedgehogs is found in the remains of any 

 bird or other animal it may have killed, or of the eggs in or 

 about any nest it may have raided. It is more likely that 

 evidence of hedgehogs' presence will be chiefly provided 

 by their excreta, which are very characteristic, and once 

 you get amongst them almost any lure will attract them. 

 Probably the best bait for hedgehogs, however, is the dead 

 body of one of their own kind, which, if suspended from 

 i ft. to 3ft. above the ground, is sure to attract any passing 

 hedgehog into the trap or traps placed immediately beneath 

 it. The same applies in a less degree to the bodies of 

 other vermin, ground or winged but whether it be the 



