NATURAL HISTORY. 83 



defiance to an unprotected hand. When rolled up, even the 

 dog and the fox are baffled by it ; but their ingenuity enables 

 them to overcome the difficulty by rolling it along until they 

 push it into a puddle or pool, when the astonished hedgehog 

 immediately unrolls itself to see what is the matter, and before 

 it can close itself again is seized by its crafty enemy. 



Many more fortunate animals have outlived tne aspersions 

 cast upon their character by ignorant persons, but the prejudice 

 against the hedgehog is still in full vigour in the agricultural 

 districts. Scarcely a farmer or labourer will be persuaded 

 that the hedgehog does not suck the cows. Now this is an 

 impossibility for the hedgehog, but I have seen pigs not 

 hedgepigs, but real bacon pigs suck the cows whilst lying 

 down. Among other creatures accused of this theft, are the 

 slow-worm, a creature with an extremely small mouth, and 

 the goatsucker. Really when a man relates that a bird sucks 

 a cow, it reminds one of the brother philosophers, one of whom 

 milked a bull while the other held the pail. 



The food of the hedgehog consists not of cow's milk, but in- 

 sects, snails, frogs, mice, and snakes. Dr. Buckland placed 

 a snake in the same box with a hedgehog. The hedgehog 

 gave the snake a severe bite, and then rolled itself up, this 

 process being repeated until the spine of the snake was broken 

 in several places ; it then began at the tail, and ate the snake 

 gradually, as one would eat a radish. "White has seen it bore 

 down and eat the roots of the plantain, leaving the leaves and 

 stem untouched. 



The flesh of the hedgehog is s#id to be good eating, and the 

 gipsies frequently make it a part of their diet, as do the people 

 in some parts of the Continent. 



During the winter it lives in a torpid state, in a hole well 

 lined with grass and moss, and when discovered looks like a 

 round mass of leaves as it rolls itself among the fallen foliage, 

 which adheres to its spikes. The engraving of the spine, or 

 quill, of this animal shows the method by which it is retained 

 in the skin. 



SPINE OF HEDGEHOG. 



