134 A TAME HEDGEHOG. 



vellous, 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 Hedgehog 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 cockroaches in our kitchen it used to be lent to 

 a friend, to whom it performed the same valuable service. In a few 

 months those tiresome insects had again multiplied, and the Hedgehog 

 was restored to its former habitation. 



The creature was marvellously tame, and would come at any time 

 to a saucer of milk in broad daylight. Sometimes it took a fancy to 

 promenading the garden, when it would trot along in its own quaint 

 style, poking its sharp nose into every crevice, and turning over every 

 fallen leaf that lay in its path. If it heard a strange step, it would 

 immediately curl itself into a ball, and lie in that posture for a few 

 minutes until its alarm had passed away, when it would cautiously un- 

 roll itself, and peer about with its bead-like eyes for a moment or two, 

 and then resume its progress. 



From all appearances it might have lived for many years had it not 

 come by its death in a rather singular manner. There was a wood- 

 shed in the kitchen-garden, where the bean and pea sticks were laid 

 up in ordinary during the greater part of the year, and it seemed, for 

 some unknown reason, to afford a marvellous attraction to the Hedge- 

 hog. So partial to this locality was the creature that whenever it was 

 missing we were nearly sure to find it among the bean-sticks in the 

 wood-shed. One morning, however, on searching for the animal, in 

 consequence of having missed its presence for some days, we found it 

 hanging by its neck in the fork of a stick, and quite dead. The poor 

 creature had probably slipped while climbing among the sticks, and 

 had been caught by the neck in the bifurcation. 



The Hedgehog is accused of stealing and breaking eggs, to which 

 indictment it can but plead guilty. 



It is very ingenious in its method of opening and eating eggs — a feat 

 which it performs without losing any of the golden contents. Instead 

 of breaking the shell and running the chance of permitting the con- 

 tents to roll out, the clever animal lays the egg on the ground, holds 

 it firmly between its fore-feet, bites a hole in the upper portion of the 

 shell, and, inserting its tongue into the orifice, licks out the contents 

 daintily. 



Not contenting itself with such comparatively meagre diet as eggs, 

 the Hedgehog is a great destroyer of snakes, frogs, and other animals, 

 crunching them together with their bones as easily as a horse will eat 

 a carrot. Even the thick bone of a mutton-chop, or the big bone of 

 the fish, is splintered by the Hedgehog's teeth with marvellous ease. 

 On one account it is rather a valuable animal, for it will attack a viper 



