60 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



In attacking a snake a Hedge-hog proceeds with extreme 

 caution, seizing a favourable opportunity to give the reptile a 

 bite, and then immediately rolling itself up into a ball till it is 

 enabled to repeat the attack, and so on till the snake finally 

 succumbs. " If the snake happens to be a viper," writes Mr. 

 Harting, " still more caution is displayed ; for the latter in- 

 variably strikes at the Hedge-hog on being bitten, and it requires 

 a remarkably quick ' shut up ' to avoid the viper's fangs. The 

 result in this case is very different ; the viper repeatedly strikes 

 against the sharp spines of the Hedge-hog, and in so doing be- 

 comes lacerated to such an extent that it eventually succumbs 

 to its self-inflicted injuries." Frogs, according to the same 

 observer, are boldly attacked at once without the slightest 

 hesitation, and torn almost limb from limb. 



In gardens frequented by Hedge-hogs, these animals may 

 often be observed on the paths and lawns in the dusk of a 

 summer's evening in search of beetles or worms. The latter 

 are seized as they issue from their holes, and are eaten in a 

 methodical manner, the Hedge-hog commencing at one end and 

 working steadily on till he reaches the other. 



It is not often that the observations of Gilbert White on the 

 habits of British animals are incorrect, although this is the case 

 with regard to one on the food of the Hedge-hog. He states 

 that these animals were in the habit of eating the roots of the 

 plantains growing in his garden at Selborne; and the state- 

 ment has been admitted into the works of other writers on 

 British animals, although it has been shown that the destruc- 

 tion of the plants in question is due to a nocturnal cater- 

 pillar. 



Although generally a silent creature, the Hedge-hog gives 

 vent to a peculiar sound, which has been described as some- 

 thing between a grunt and a squeak; and the cry of these 

 animals when trapped has been already incidentally mentioned. 



