INSECT-EATING MAMMALS 59 



through its jaws, cracking the bones with its molars and premolars 

 at short intervals till the whole body is limp. He is said then to 

 begin at the tip of the tail and eat the snake gradually from that 

 direction. 



Hedgehogs, we have all heard or read, were formerly eaten 

 by the agricultural labourer, and more certainly by the gipsies- 

 The latter, after kilHng them, roll them in clay and bake them. 

 When a sufficient time has elapsed the clay ball is broken open, 

 and the spines embedded in the clay are torn out, leaving the 

 flesh of the hedgehog cooked and accessible. The animal has, 

 however, a filthy flavour, derived, with its smell, no doubt, from 

 some of those preputial glands possessed by so many of the 

 Insectivora. 



The distribution of the hedgehog in the British Islands is 

 as follows : — It is found pretty nearly all over England, except, 

 of course, in the vicinity of towns. In Scotland its range was 

 formerly limited to the south and centre, but now it is creeping 

 northwards. It is, however, absent from the Hebrides and all 

 the larger islands off the west coast of Scotland. It is found 

 in the Orkneys and Shetlands, but some authorities think its 

 presence there is due to human introduction. In Ireland its 

 distribution is somewhat interrupted, but it would appear to be 

 indigenous to that island. Outside the United Kingdom the 

 common or European hedgehog extends its range through 

 Central Europe, across Asia to the Chinese coast of the Pacific 

 Ocean, It is also found in Syria, Asia Minor, and Italy. 



Family: TALPID^. THE MOLES 

 The Moles, like the hedgehogs, seem to have originated in 

 Europe, or at any rate in the temperate regions of the Old 

 World. Some genera of moles, however, are found in North 

 America. The moles are distantly allied to the shrews, than 

 which, however, they are less specialised in dentition. In all of 

 them the eyes are very small, and in some practically function- 

 less. The outer ear is short, and completely concealed by 

 the fur. This group is represented in the British Islands by 



