258 THE HEDGEHOG OR URCHIN. 



caught the rat and killed it, calmly settling down 

 to the meal while the outraged adult rats spent 

 themselves in impotent fury ! 



This incident seems to cast some light on the 

 hedgehog's abilities as a rat-killer, but at the same 

 time I have known a hedgehog to be very severely 

 mauled by rats. This happened at the same place 

 some years later, when we discovered a hedgehog, 

 apparently in a drowning condition, floating down 

 a brook which flowed near the house. On exam- 

 ination we found it to be covered all over with rat- 

 bites, and in a mortally wounded state so mangled, 

 indeed, as to be unable to swim. The rats of the 

 outbuildings claimed the banks of this stream a 

 little higher up as part of their territory, and 

 seemingly the hedgehog, trespassing within their 

 domain, had been chastised in consequence. 



Owing to its armament, a hedgehog could 

 probably kill any normal gray rat in single combat, 

 and it is easily conceivable that so prudent a creature 

 as the last named would readily avoid all likelihood 

 of argument with such a gentleman. Even though 

 a massed attack might result in the defeat of the 

 hedgehog, the experience would not be pleasant 

 for the rats participating in it. 



SNAKE-KILLING. 



Hedgehog* are supposed to kill snakes, but here 

 again we have another example of the creature's 

 tendency to try to eat anything it finds. The 

 hedgehog does not begin with the idea of killing ; 

 it sets out merely with the idea of eating, and 

 whether it happens to come across a worm, a 

 snared rabbit, a snake, or a dead kitten, the result 

 is the same. If the creature proves troublesome, 

 the hedgehog advances its bayonets and quietly 



