158 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



in the successful survival of the humble Hedgehog with us, while we 

 have nearly exterminated the Wild Cat, and only allow the Fox to 

 survive that he may make sport for us. The Armadillo is diurnal or 

 nocturnal according to circumstances and the risks he runs from man- 

 kind ; he is easily satisfied in the matter of food, devouring worms, 

 grubs, mice, snakes, the eggs and young of ground-breeding birds, and 

 any carrion he can come across. Should he scent out the carcase of 

 a Horse, he is in luck's way, for he will drive a shaft under it and 

 live in luxury, eating away at the carcase from beneath. If his more 

 natural animal food should fail, he will make shift with herbage, and 

 even maize has been found in its stomach. 



Clumsy as it is, the creature can move nimbly enough, and it 

 displays some strategy in capturing its prey. When it scents a mouse, 

 for instance, according to Mr. Hudson, it will creep cautiously up and 

 fling itself bodily on the unfortunate little rodent ; while snakes it 

 circumvents by sawing them into helplessness with the notched edges 

 of its armoured overcoat. 



The said coat of mail also protects it to a considerable extent from 

 the attacks of beasts of prey, and it is further secured by its great 

 strength and powers of rapid burrowing. When seized it does not 

 bite, but uses its claws to some purpose. 



Man himself relishes the flesh of this creature, as in the case of 

 several others of the family ; it is said to eat better than roast pig, 

 and is very fat almost too rich, in fact. Of all animals, certainly, 

 none looks so much as if it were made to be eaten ; there is so little 

 to be done- to make it ready, as its few sparse hairs are easily singed 

 off, and the shell makes a capital dish to roast it in. 



In captivity the Hairy Armadillo is a very hardy animal, but its 

 cage or sty must be strongly constructed, or the beast, which is very 

 restless and constantly on the look-out for a weak point, will fairly 

 force itself out. It bears cold well, and will endure our winters in an 

 outdoor habitation a sufficiently remarkable thing in the case of an 

 animal practically devoid of fur. The Armadillo, however, appreciates 

 the value of a warm bed, and, if provided with straw, will bite it up 

 into chaff, and then bury itself in the heap thus formed. Armadillos 

 are long-lived animals for their size ; at any rate, a species allied to the 

 present lived in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens for twenty years. 



