CLASS MAMMALIA.
37
row of trees, where I have no doubt it is frequently passed
over as the commoner species by those in search of it.
Like the last, it is much more common than is generally
believed. I have had no difficulty in finding all I have
required for the purposes of study. Doubleday says (Zool.,
1843, p. 6) it is found at Epping, and I have no doubt it is
distributed throughout the county, for I have seen it wherever
I have looked for it.
Order INSECTIVORA.
Family ERINACEIDAE, Bonap.
Genus Erinaceus, Linn.
Erinaceus europaeus, Linn. Hedgehog.
I should think there are very few places in Essex where
this very common animal is not to be found. It may be
seen in woods, hedges, and in the coarse herbage about the
ditches of the marshes.
The persecution it has long undergone at the hands of the
game preserver, while diminishing its numbers, happily has
not caused its extermination. Doubtless it sometimes in-
dulges in the theft of an egg, a young partridge, or a pheasant;
yet these delinquencies must be overlooked in consideration
of the hedgehog's extreme usefulness in destroying grubs and
insects. Numerous instances are also recorded of its having
undoubtedly made a raid upon the poultry, and carried off
young chickens from the hen ; while gamekeepers very gener-
ally assert that it carries on a similar practice with young
pheasants. Even so, I think we must still consider it to be
one of the most harmless animals we have.
In confinement, the hedgehog is quick to lose all fear,
neither curling up, nor erecting its spines when handled, and