THE MARTEN. 
96 
it is supplied apparently with a sense of smelling as 
perfect as its other faculties. Its feet are well adapted 
to its habits, not treading upright on the balls alone, 
but with the joint bending, the fleshy parts being em- 
bedded in a very soft and delicate hair, so that the tread 
of the animal, even upon decayed leaves, is scarcely 
audible; by which means it can steal upon its prey 
without any noise betraying its approach. The fur is 
fine, and the skin so thin and flexible, as to impede 
none of its agile movements. Thus every thing com- 
bines to render the marten a very destructive creature. 
It seems to have a great dislike to cold, residing in winter 
in the hollow of some tree, deeply embedded in dry 
foliage, and when in confinement, covering and hiding 
itself with all the warm materials it can find. In genial 
seasons it will sleep by day in the abandoned nest of 
the crow or buzzard, and its dormitory is often discov- 
ered by the chattering and mobbing of different birds 
on the tree. It is certainly not numerous in England, 
our woods being too small, and too easily penetrated, to 
afford it adequate quiet and shelter. Its skin is still in 
some little request, being worth about two shillings and 
sixpence in the market ; but it is used only for inferior 
purposes, as the furs of colder regions than ours are 
better, and more easily obtained. 
Notwithstanding all the persecutions from prejudice 
and wantonness to which the hedgehog (erinaceus euro- 
paeus) is exposed, it is yet common with us ; sleeping 
by day in a bed of leaves and moss, under the cover of 
a very thick bramble or furze-bush, and at times in some 
hollow stump of a tree. It creeps out in the summer 
evenings ; and, running about with more agility than its 
dull appearance promises, feeds on dew-worms and 
beetles, which it finds among the herbage, but retires 
with trepidation at the approach of man. In the au- 
tumn, crabs, haws, and the common fruits of the hedge, 
constitute its diet. In the winter, covering itself deeply 
in moss and leaves, it sleeps during the severe weather; 
and, when drawn out from its bed, scarcely any thing 
of the creature is to be observed, it exhibiting only a 
ball of leaves, which it seems to attach to its spines by 
