NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
213 
Received : Nature Stw/y (Manchester, New Hampshire) for June and July ; 
The American Botanist for July ; Bird-Lore for July — August ; The Vidortan 
Naturalist and The Plant IVorld for August ; Ottr Animad Friends for August 
and September ; and The Naturalist, Nature Study CLoc\s.viooA), The Animals’ 
Friend, 7 he Animal World, The Agt icultural Economist, The Estate Magazine, 
and The Commonwealth, for September. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
168. Hedgehogs. — A few days ago, while walking through the woods here, 
we noticed a hedgehog in the middle of a patch of sedge. Ilis black beady eyes 
glancing up at us first attracted our attention. -As we approached him, instead 
of rolling into a ball as we expected, he only buried his nose deeper among the 
sedge roots, and not until we pushed him aside to see what he was doing did he 
begin (and then very leisurely and reluctantly) to curl himself, at the same time 
displaying a length of red longue as he licked his lips in evident satisfaction. 
We discovered that wc had caught him in the act of demolishing a nest of the 
“foggy” bee — a light brown and gold variety, somewhat smaller than the ordi- 
nary bumble bee — “foggy trotters” the children here call them. The comb 
consisted of a mass of round cells, about the size of sloes and of the colour of 
potatoes, all adhering together without any apparent order, the entire mass being 
about 2 in. deep and perhaps 7 in. in diameter. Most of the cells contained 
larvae and pupaa in all stages of development, and others were filled with thick 
viscous honey of a dark brown colour. Three full-grown “ foggies ” wandered, 
seemingly aimlessly, among the ruins. We took possession of two small detached 
clusters of cells, which, wrapped in damp moss, lie before us as we write. One 
cluster appears very healthy, the other, in which the bees are almost matured, 
does not look so promising. We are hoping that some of the cell contents may 
develop under our observation. 
During our inspection of the nest our attention was diverted from the hedge- 
hog, who boldly uncurled himself and somewhat startled us by touching our hand 
with his snout, so determined was he to continue his feast. It was no easy matter 
for two of us to roll the robber on to a handkerchief, for his spines were par- 
ticularly sharp and held to everything they touched. We laid him on the grass, 
his nose and tail meeting uppermost, and returning to the nest covered it very 
carefully with sedge plants, and above these placed two large flat pieces of sand- 
stone from the burn-side. Afterwards we sat down at a little distance and watched 
the motionless, thorny ball. A few minutes passed and then the hedgehog’s sides 
began to palpitate as he opened a little and sniffed the air around. Gradually he 
uncurled, turned over on his feet and stealthily crept back to the same sedge 
patch. Immediately we approached him he curled himself up again, so once 
more rolling him on to a handkerchief we gave him a hammock ride for a long 
way through the woods, depositing him at last by the side of the stream. Two 
days later, on visiting the nest, we found that, in spite of our care and precaution, 
a hole had been tunnelled under the sedge patch and every vestige of the bee’s 
nest had disappeared. 
The farmers in th<s district all affirm that the hedgehog destroys the eggs of 
the pheasant, partridge and other birds. We ourselves have seen a pheasant’s 
nest with the eggs smashed and sucked dry. The work was laid at the door of 
the hedgehog as a matter of course, but as the hedgehog was not caught in the act 
further proof seems necessary. 
Temple, Midlothian. S. D. W. 
169. Squirrels and Fire. — A forest fire has been raging for some days in 
some extensive woods near here, and I was interested in noting the effects thereof 
on one at least of its denizens — the squirrel. 
When the fire had been practically got under I made a special pilgrimage to 
find some squirrels, which infest these woods. Hitherto I have found them without 
any difficulty whatever, it being nothing out of the common to see ten or a dozen 
in an hour. On this occasion, however (except for one solitary specimen in a tall 
beech-tree at least a mile from the smouldering embers), I saw no signs of a single 
