Quadrupeds. 



6055 



Notes on the Hedgehog. By Major Spicer. 



The following notes on the hedgehog may perhaps interest some 

 of the readers of tlic ' Zoologist — 



Saturday, July 8th. I this morning found a hedgehog, and with her 

 four young ones, about the size of small oranges : I took them home, 

 and placed them in the kitchen garden, the old one and young, making 

 a sort of nest for them amongst some herbs. The old one soon seemed 

 lo recover her fright and hurts, for she had been much worried by a 

 couple of terriers T had with me, till I discovered she had young ones 

 with her, when I made them desist. I make a practice of killing all 

 hedgehogs as vermin, being confident of their malpractices with regard 

 to game. On visiting them the same afternoon I found the old one 

 suckling her young, and I stood quietly by watching her for some 

 time : she 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. 



July 9. They were all in the same place, in the nest I had made for 

 them : in the path near I had strewn, the night before, little bits of 

 raw meat, and some of this was gone, but whether stolen by birds or 

 eaten by the hedgehog or other vermin I could not say. 



July 10. On looking at them in the morning the old one was not 

 to be found, but the young ones were all right, and looking as snug 

 as could be. On searching for the old one, I found a hole scratched 

 under the garden fence, a wooden close paling, about ten yards from 

 where the young ones were. 



July 11. The old hedgehog still away, but the young ones looking 

 well and sleeping contentedly, so that no doubt she returned in the 

 night to suckle them, whereas had they been deserted and hungry 

 they would have been restless and half-starved in the two nights. 

 To ascertain whether she returned, 1 closed the hole under the fence 

 loosely with earth. 



July 12. The hole scratched open from the outside, and the young 

 hedgehogs strong and well, but no old one to be found ; she evidently 

 returned to suckle them each night, and they lay sleeping as com- 

 fortably and as full as young sucking-pigs or puppies. 



July 13. This morning three of the four young ones are gone, and 



