HEDGEHOG AND MOLE 27 



heard. Shakespeare, however, is accurate in his famous line : " Thrice and 

 once the hedgepig whined." A remarkable description has been given of the 

 hedgehog's fight with the viper, which is not unlike the famous duel between 

 Rikki-tikki-tavi and the cobra. The hedgehog dashes in, dodging from side 

 to side until the adder has exhausted itself or has injured itself by striking 

 at the hedgehog's prickly back. Then the spine is bitten through, and the 

 little creature passes the whole body through its teeth, cracking every joint 

 of the backbone, before making a meal from the tail end upwards ! I have 

 never had the opportunity of witnessing such a duel, though I have seen a 

 hedgehog play with a dead grass snake, almost as a puppy will play with a 

 slipper. The hedgehog pranced and gambolled round the snake, then pounced 

 upon it and worried it, and, occasionally pretending it was alive, would leap 

 away and roll himself into a ball. It was not difficult to imagine what the 

 scene would be between my tame hedgehog and a live snake. 



Hedgehogs are very thirsty creatures, and, I believe, will soon die without 

 water. Every summer a number of them come from the fields around to 

 drink at night at a little fountain in my garden, and occasionally tumble in 

 and get drowned. They can swim, however, quite easily, and lie very flat 

 on the water, with little but the head exposed, much after the same manner 

 as the " Water Rat," or Vole. 



Their thirsty habits may account for the legend, so often repeated in 

 country parts, of the hedgehog's sucking the cow's udder. There is probably 

 more truth in it than is generally supposed. A cow lying down at night, if 

 in full milk, would have a few drops exuding from the teats, and a hedgehog 

 which discovered the fact might very readily proceed to suck. Be that as 

 it may, any one who has kept these creatures in captivity knows with what 

 avidity they drink from a saucer ; indeed, I have drawn mine out of their 

 sleeping boxes by rattling the saucer, and have had them sit up and drink 

 out of a spoon. 



The hedgehog's flesh is not very palatable, but according to the gipsy 

 method it may be cooked by being rolled up in a lump of clay and put in the 

 embers. When the ball is hard it may be broken, and the spines come away 

 with the clay. 



2. The Moles (Talpida). Every one is familiar with the general char- 

 acteristics of the " little gentleman in black," and only too often a lawn is 

 ruined in a single night by the tunnelling of one of these creatures. 



The Mole is a distant cousin of the Shrews. Though it is common in Great 

 Britain, it is not found in Ireland. Its fossil remains have been found, show- 

 ing that it existed in this country before man. Popularly it is supposed to 

 be blind, and to have no ears ; but the fact is that it possesses very small 

 eyes, and a pair of very acute ears, though they are completely concealed in 

 the fur. The extraordinary development of its fore-limbs, or hands, is an 

 instance of adaptation. To all intents and purposes, only the wrist and hand 

 extend from the body, the " arm " being concealed within it, and these " hands " 



