HEDGEHOG.—Erindccus Ewropeus. 
water. The Hedgehog, fearing that it is going to be drowned, straightway unrolls itself, and 
is immediately pounced on by the cunning fox, which crushes its head with a single bite, 
and eats it afterwards at leisure. In America, the puma is said to eat the Hedgehog in a 
very curious manner. Seizing the animal by the head, it gradually draws the animal 
through its teeth, swallowing the body and stripping off the skin. 
Man, however, troubles himself very little about the Hedgehog’s prickles, and when 
disposed to such a diet, kills, cooks, and eats it without hesitation. 
The legitimate mode of proceeding is to kill the animal by a blow on the head, and 
then to envelop it, without removing the skin, in a thick layer of well-kneaded clay. 
The enwrapped Hedgehog is then placed on the fire, being carefully turned by the cook 
at proper intervals, and there remains until the clay is perfectly dry and begins to crack. 
When this event has taken place, the cooking is considered to be complete, and the 
animal is removed from the fire. The clay covering is then broken off, and carries away 
with it the whole of the skin, which is adherent by means of the prickles. By this mode 
of cookery the juices are preserved, and the result is pronounced to *~___,-remely 
excellent. 
This primitive but admirable form of cookery is almost entirely confined to gipsies 
and other wanderers, as in these days there are few civilized persons who would 
condescend to partake of such a diet. Utilitarians, however, can render the creature 
subservient to their purposes by using it as a guardian to their kitchens. Its imsect- 
devowing powers are of such a nature that it can be made a most useful inhabitant of the 
house, and set in charge of the “ black beetles.” 
It is domesticated without the least diff iculty, and speedily makes itself at home, if it 
be only supplhed with a warm bed of rags or hay in some dark crevice. The rapidity 
with which it extirpates the cockroaches is most marvellous, for their speed and wariness 
are so great that the Hedgehog must possess no small amount of both qualities in order 
to destroy them so easily. "A He dgehoe which resided for some years in our house 
was accustomed to pass a somewhat nomad existence, for as soon as it had eaten all the 
