POISON-RESISTING POWER OF THE HEDGEHOG. 449 



licking the wounded spot once or twice, returned to the charge. At last it succeeded in 

 killing the viper, and, after having done so, ate its vanquished enemy, beginning at the 

 tail, and so working upwards. The animal always seems to eat a snake in this fashion, 

 and on one occasion was known to proceed with its banquet while the poor snake was 

 still living. 



Poisons of all kinds have been tried upon the Hedgehog without the least effect. 

 Prussic acid, arsenic, and other deadly substances have been unsuccessfully administered, 

 and the animal has been known to make a very satisfactory meal on cantharides without 

 experiencing any ill effects from these cauterizing insects.- How it is that the constitution 

 of the creature can resist the effects of such powerful substances is not, as yet, known. 

 It is, however, a subject of much interest, and, if it could be elucidated, would probably 

 be of incalculable service to mankind. 



On one occasion, when a Hedgehog was employed in the demolition of a snake, it 

 proceeded in a remarkably cautious manner, as if it had been a practised combatant, and 

 had learned how to inflict injury on its foe without suffering in return. On being roused 

 by the touch of the snake, the Hedgehog which had been coiled up unrolled itself, bit 

 the snake sharply, and immediately resumed its coiled attitude. Three times it repeated 

 this proceeding, and when after the third bite the snake's back was bitten through, the 

 Hedgehog stood by the side of its victim, and deliberately crushed the snake's 

 body throughout its entire length by biting it at intervals of about half an inch. Having 

 thus placed itself beyond the reach of retaliation, it took the tip of the snake's 

 tail in its mouth, began to eat it, and finished the reptile in the course of twenty-four 

 hours. 



The exploits of the Hedgehog in serpent-killing are useful enough in their way, but 

 it too often happens that the carnivorous propensities of the animal are exercised upon 

 less harmful creatures than vipers or other " vermin." Indeed, the poultry-fancier and 

 the game-preserver have too much reason for ranking the Hedgehog itself under that 

 expressive and somewhat comprehensive epithet. Many are the instances on record 

 where the creature has been detected in the act of destroying rabbits, poultry, and 

 various kinds of game, and has been unexpectedly discovered to have been the per- 

 petrator of sundry acts of robbery which had been laid upon the shoulders of the fox, 

 the weasel, or the polecat. 



On one occasion, the proprietor of a fine bantam cock was roused by a great 

 disturbance in the place where the fowl was kept, and on going down to see what might 

 be the matter, found his feathered favorite struggling in the jaws of a Hedgehog, which 

 had caught it by the leg and would speedily have devoured it had not its owner come, 

 happily, to the rescue. Again, no less than fifteen turkey poults had been destroyed in 

 the course of a single night, three having been abstracted and the others killed. A 

 number of steel-traps were laid around the scene of devastation, and on the following 

 morning three male Hedgehogs were found in the traps, having evidently returned for 

 the purpose of bringing away the victims of their previous raid. 



All kinds of game fall occasional victims to the Hedgehog's appetite, and the 

 partridge, the hare, and the pheasant seem to suffer equally from the voracity of this 

 strange animal. A Hedgehog has been seen in the act of destroying a hare, and had 

 inflicted such injuries that the poor creature died in a very short time after it had been 

 rescued from the jaws of its assailant. This circumstance occurred in Cumberland. 

 Rabbits, too, are frequently eaten by this animal, and Hedgehogs have several times 

 been taken in traps that have been set for other " vermin," and baited with portions of 

 dead rabbits. 



That hares, rabbits, and other terrestrial animals should be captured by so apparently 

 clumsy an animal as the Hedgehog is sufficiently remarkable, but that the wary pheasant 

 and the well-winged partridge should fall victims to the creature is more than singular. 

 Yet there are many accredited instances where the Hedgehog has been captured in the 

 very act of killing and eating partridges, and has even been killed while the head of a 

 young partridge still protruded from its mouth. One of these creatures has been de< 

 tected in the act of eating a hen-pheasant which had been placed in a cage to which it 

 had gained access by squeezing itself through a marvellously small aperture. Another 

 29 



