NATURAL HISTORY. 249 





THE HEDGE-HOG. 



THE Hedge-hog has the power of defending itself 

 from an enemy without combating him, and of annoy- 

 ing without attacking him. Possessed of little strength 

 and of no agility by which it might escape its foes, ifc 

 has received from Nature a prickly armour, with a 

 facility of rolling itself up in a ball, and of presenting 

 from every part of its body a poignant weapon of de- 

 fence. Even from its fear this animal obtains another 

 engine of security : the smell of its urine, which, when 

 attacked, it generally emits, is sufficient to make its 

 enemy quit the field : thus the generality of dogs arc. 

 content with barking at the hedge-hog, when it falls 

 ill their way, without discovering any inclination to 

 seize it. Of these, however, there are some which, 

 like the fox, have had the address to overcome it, 

 though of the martin, the pole-cat, the ferret, the 

 weasel, or any of the birds of prey, it has no dread. 



They are generally found in woods, under the trunks 

 of old trees, as also in the clefts of rocks. I do not 

 believe that they climb up trees, as some naturalists 

 have affirmed, or that they make use of their prickles 

 to carry off the fruit. It is with their mouth they 

 Vol. I. H h 



