292 



THE INSECT-EATING ANIMALS. 



larva;, it devours Rain-worms, Snails, Mice, small 

 birds and even the young of larger ones. One really 

 would not think it capable of catching the small, 

 nimble Mice; but it knows its business, and accom- 

 plishes this seemingly impossible feat. 



Snake Killing Much more important are its com- 

 Propensities of bats with Snakes, in which it exhibits 

 Hedgehogs. a courage which it would scarcely be 

 suspected of possessing. Lenz has made excellent 

 observations upon this trait of the animal: "On the 

 24th of August," he says, " I put a Hedgehog into a 

 large box, in which, two days later, it gave birth to 

 six little ones, covered with incipient spines. The 

 mother took care of her children with faithful love. 

 To test her appetite I proffered her various kinds of 

 food, and found that she ate Beetles, Rain-worms, 

 Frogs, and Blindworms with great gusto, and also 

 ate even Toads, but these not so willingly. Mice 

 were her favorite dainty; fruit she ate only when 

 there was no animal food to be had, and when I once 

 gave her nothing but fruit for two days, she ate so 

 scantily that two of her young starved for want of 

 milk. She exhibited great courage also in contend- 

 ing against dangerous animals. 



" But let us come to the main point, the fight of 

 our heroine with an Adder. Although it gave us 

 great admiration for the Hedgehog's exploits, we 

 must confess that we would lack the courage to imi- 

 tate them. On the 30th of August I put an Adder 

 in the Hedgehog's box, as she was quietly suckling 

 her young. I had previously demonstrated by ex- 

 periment that this Snake did not lack poison, as it 

 had killed a Mouse very quickly two days before. 

 The Hedgehog soon scented it (the creature was 

 always guided by scent, never by sight,) rose from 

 her bed, carefully groped around the Snake, as it lay 

 stretched out, sniffed at it from the tail to the head, 

 and paid special attention to the mouth. The Snake 

 hissed and bit repeatedly into the snout and lips of 

 the Hedgehog. Scorning the Snake's impotent rage 

 the Hedgehog comfortably licked her wounds, with- 

 out flinching, and while so engaged received a sound 

 bite in her tongue. Without being the least con- 

 fused, she went on sniffing at the enraged, biting 

 Snake, repeatedly touching it with her tongue, with- 

 out biting, however. Finally she quickly seized the 

 head of the Snake, and, in spite of its resistance, 

 crushed it, poisonous teeth, glands and all, between 

 her teeth, and ate it to the middle of the body. 

 Then she stopped and went back to suckle her 

 young. In the evening she ate the rest of this Snake 

 and also a young new-born Adder. On the follow- 

 ing day she devoured three more new-born Snakes, 

 neither the Hedgehog nor her young ones feeling 

 any the worse for these repasts; nor was there any 

 swelling or anything else of the kind to be seen on 

 the wounds. This Hedgehog has since frequently 

 fought with equal success, and she always crushed 

 the head first, while she never paid any attention to 

 this careful selection of the head in killing non- 

 venomous Snakes. The remains of her repast she 

 was wont to carry into her nest and devour them at 

 leisure." 



These observations are undoubtedly remarkable 

 in every respect. In the light of physiology, one 

 cannot understand how a warm-blooded animal can 

 stand bites which would mean death to others of its 

 class. We must bear in mind that the bite of an 

 Adder kills mammals which are of at least thirty 

 times the size and weight of the Hedgehog, and 

 apparently ought to be much stronger than it is. 



But our bristly hero really seems to be proof against 

 venom; and devours not only poisonous snakes, the 

 venom of which, as everybody knows, is effective only 

 when it enters the blood directly, but also animals the 

 poison of which acts when taken into the stomach, as, 

 for instance, the well-known Cantharides, or Spanish 

 Flies, the bodies of which cause violent inflamma- 

 tion if applied to the external skin, and which taken 

 internally would unfailingly cause the death of other 

 animals. 

 Birth and Train- Young Hedgehogs are born in litters 

 ing of Hedge- of from three to six, and in rare cases 

 hogs. eight, in a nest which the mother has 



specially prepared for the occasion, and which is of 

 large, roomy dimensions, warmly lined and situated 

 under thick hedges, heaps of leaves or moss, or in a 

 corn field. The little Hedgehogs, which are blind 

 at birth, are about two and one-half inches long, of 

 a white color in the beginning and have a nearly 

 naked appearance, as the spines do not develop 

 until later. 



Hedgehogs Towards autumn the young Hedge- 

 in their Winter hogs are so far grown-up that each 

 Retreat. one f them can cater for itself, and 



before the cold weather comes, each has stored a 

 goodly supply of fat on its little body and thinks 

 of preparing its winter quarters, like the parents. 

 The winter abode is a heap of straw, hay, leaves and 

 moss, carefully lined in the interior. The building 

 materials are brought there by the Hedgehog itself 

 in a very queer manner. It rolls around in the 

 leaves where they lie thickest, in this way pinning a 

 load of them to its spines, and giving itself a quite 

 magnificent appearance. In the same manner it 

 carries fruit home. With the first intense cold the 

 Hedgehog buries itself deeply in its habitation and 

 there spends the cold season in uninterrupted hiber- 

 nation, which usually lasts till March. Under favor- 

 able circumstances a Hedgehog in the free state 

 probably reaches an age of from eight to ten years. 

 The Hedgehog To tame a Hedgehog it is only nec- 

 in Captiu- essary to confine it in a convenient 

 i*!l- place. It soon becomes accustomed 



to its captivity and loses its fear of Man. It eats 

 what is offered it without hesitation and even looks 

 for additional food for itself in house and yard, 

 and still more freely in barns and sheds. In some 

 localities it is highly esteemed as a mouser and is 

 extensively employed as such in warehouses where 

 Cats are not desirable. The Hedgehog is admirably 

 adapted for the extermination of obnoxious insects, 

 especially for the devouring of the repulsive Cock- 

 roaches, end it does its work with great zeal. If it 

 is only treated kindly and a secluded corner is pro- 

 vided for it, captivity causes it no grief whatever. 

 Enemies of the The Hedgehog has many enemies 

 Hedge- beside ill-natured, ignorant human 



"°9- beings. Dogs hate it with great in- 



tensity and signify their enmity by a prolonged, 

 fierce bark, whenever they discover a Hedgehog, 

 and take every means to demonstrate their dislike 

 of the bristle-wearing creature. But the latter re- 

 mains in a ball-like position, so long as a Dog busies 

 himself with it, and the aggressor gets nothing but 

 a bloody nose as the reward for his violence, for the 

 Dog can do nothing to the animal in its coat of 

 mail, but only harms himself. The Fox is said to 

 pursue Hedgehogs with great zeal and to cause them 

 to unroll, in a mean way, by slowly rolling the ball 

 of spines to the water with his fore-paws and throw- 

 ing it in. In this way many Hedgehogs perish. 



