ITS FOES. 133 



the Hedgehog recks little of any foe, save man. For, with this single 

 exception, there are, in England at least, no enemies that need be 

 dreaded by so well-protected an animal. Dogs, foxes, and cats are 

 the only creatures which possess the capability of killing and eating 

 the Hedgehog, and of these foes it is very little afraid. For dogs are 

 but seldom abroad at night while the Hedgehog is engaged in its noc- 

 turnal quests after food ; and the fox would not be foolish enough to 

 waste its time and prick its nose in weary endeavors to force its in- 

 tended prey out of its defences. Cats, too, are even less adapted to 

 such a proceeding than dogs and foxes. 



It is indeed said that the native cunning of the Fox enables it to 

 overreach the Hedgehog, and to induce it to unroll itself by an ingeni- 

 ous, but, I fear, an apocryphal, process. Reynard is said, whenever he 

 finds a coiled-up Hedgehog, to roll it over and over with his paw toward 

 some runnel, pond, or puddle, and then to souse it unexpectedly into 

 the water. The Hedgehog, fearing that it is going to be drowned, 

 straightway unrolls itself, and is immediately pounced on by the cun- 

 ning fox, which crushes its head with a single bite, and eats it after- 

 ward at leisure. In America the puma is said to eat the Hedgehog 

 in a very curious manner. Seizing the animal by the head, it gradu- 

 ally draws the animal through its teeth, swallowing the body and strip- 

 ping 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 inter- 

 vals, 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 cover- 

 ing is then broken ofi*, 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 be supremely 

 excellent. 



This primitive but admirable form of cookery is almost entirely con- 

 fined to gipsies and other wanderers, as in these days there are few civ- 

 ilized persons who would condescend to partake of such a diet. Util- 

 itarians, however, can render the creature subservient to their purposes 

 by using it as a guardian to their kitchens. Its insect-devouring pow- 

 ers 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." 



The rapidity with which it extirpates the cockroaches is most mar- 



12 



