3dS 



PET ANIMALS. 



alarmed, or whenever they please, they have the power of rolling 

 themselves up into a tight round ball, which shows nothing but 

 spikes, and may be rolled along like a cricket- ball, without causing 

 the little animal to uncoil itself, while every spike is firm and erect 

 as a needle, and almost as sharp. While in this shape very few dogs 

 can worry the hedgehog, and as for the fox, who is rather partial 

 to him, true to his wily nature, he rolls the poor hedgehog 

 along with his paws until he conies to a pool of water, when the 

 hedgehog unrolls himself, exclaiming, no doubt, ' ' Hey, what the 

 deuce is this; why I can't breathe !" and trying to peep about and 

 see what's the matter, the fox, on the look out, seizes him by the 

 belly and eats him all up saving the spines. Were you to thrust a 

 dozen pins with large heads through a piece of parchment, you would 

 hav3 an exact representation of the spines of the hedgehog, every 

 one of which is retained inside the skin by the large pin-like head. 



Some say it sucks the cows and draws off their milk, but this is 

 absurd, as its mouth is not adapted for sucking : its favourite food 

 is insects and snails; it also feeds on frogs and mice, and will even 

 kill a snake and eat it all up, beginning at the tail. The way it 

 kills a snake is very curious : it gives the snake a bite on the back, 

 then rolls itself up like a ball, remaining still as a stone for some 

 time, while the snake lashes and writhes about in agony; as soon as 

 the snake is a little quiet the hedgehog gives him another sharp bite 

 on the spine, and so continues until the snake is killed, then he 

 begins at the tail, as the Rev. J. G. Wood tells us in his beautifully 

 " Illustrated Natural History," and eats him up "as one would a, 

 radish." In a natural state it sleeps all the winter, rolled up in a 

 hole which it has filled with grass, moss, or leaves ; and when domes- 

 ticated it will hide itself in some dark corner for weeks, and never 

 once make its appearance unless it chances to awake and feel hungry, 

 then some day you will see it come creeping towards the fire, and 

 be very glad to see it too. They are great destroyers of beetles, 

 eating them up as you would a handful of raisins, and seeming 

 equally fond of them. They need no looking after at all, but will 

 take care of themselves, though it is as well to have a little hutch to 

 put them into now and then. Their feeding time is in the night, 

 and if there are black beetles in the kitchen the best plan is to leave 

 the hedgehog there, and let him devour all he can catch. They 

 have four or five young ones at a litter, which are born blind. It is 

 no uncommon sight to see a countryman with both old and young 

 ones to sell. You can buy a young hedgehog for sixpence, and an 

 old one for a shilling, or less than that even. We know of no animal 

 that is less trouble to keep, and in time it becomes so tame as to 

 come out of its hiding-place when called. 



