Country Life
A WIRE-CUTTING HEDGEHOG.
An unsuspected culprit has just been discovered in the per- petration of a crime which had been attributed to the human boy. Several holes were found in a square of strong one-inch wire very carefully fixed round a young plantation. The wire was cut irregularly but cleanly enough, and no traces of footsteps or other slots were perceptible. After long investi- gation the secret wire-cutter was proved to be a hedgehog, that furtive night-loving animal which is very much commoner than is usually thought. The jaws are immensely powerful, but I do not know that it has ever before been caught attacking wire. Foxes and dogs will on occasion break wire strands with their teeth, as I discovered to my loss last year, but they were thought to be proof against all other animals, wild or tame. * * *
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