MAMMALIA—HEDGEHOG, OF 
THE HEDGEHOG.! 
Tuts animal varies in length from six to ten inches; and has the power 
of defending itself from an enemy without combating him, and of annoying 
without attacking him. Possessed of little strength, and of no agility by 
which it might escape its foes, it has received from nature a prickly armor, 
with a faculty of rolling itself up into a ball, and of presenting from every 
part of its body a poignant weapon of defence. Even from its fear this 
animal obtains another engine of security; the smell of its urine, which, 
when attacked, it generally sheds, being sufficient to disgust its enemy with 
the contest, and to keep him at a distance. Thus, the generality of dogs 
are content with barking at the hedgehog, when it falls in their way, with- 
out discovering any inclination to seize it. Of these, however, there are 
some, which, like the fox, have had the address to master it, though of the 
marten, the polecat, the ferret, the weasel, or any of the birds of prey, it has 
no dread. 
When at large in the country, they are generally found in woods, under 
the trunks of old trees, as also in the clefts of rocks. It is not probable that 
they climb up trees, as some naturalists have affirmed, or that they make 
use of their prickles to carry off the fruit; it is with their mouth they seize 
it. They. always remain at the foot, in some hollow space, or under moss. 
They remain in a state of inactivity all day; they only venture abroad by 
night, and seldom approach human habitations. They sleep during the 
winter; and therefore every thing that has been said of their laying up pro- 
visions for that season, must be false. They at no time eat much, and can 
subsist very long without any food whatever. Hedgehogs are occasionally 
eaten, and their flesh is said to be delicate food ; their skin is not new con- 
verted to ‘any use, though the ancients used 1t for the purpose of a clothes 
brush. 
The hedgehog may be rendered domestic, and in that state is very useful 
im destroying cockroaches and beetles, which he pursues and devours with 
great activity. He is believed also to destroy mice, nearly if not quite as 
well asacat. A hedgehog belonging to the proprietor of an inn at Felton, 
in Northumberland, Eng., was taught to perform perfectly the duty of a. 
turnspit dog. Itran familiarly round the house, and was very obedient. 
“Tn the month of June, 1782,” says a correspondent in the Gentleman’s 
Magazine, ‘“‘a full grown hedgehog was put into a small yard, in which 
was 4 border of shrubs and annuals. In the course of a few days he formed, 
beneath a small holly tree, a hole in the earth sufficiently large to receive 
! Erinaceus Europeus, Lx. The genus Erinaceus has six upper and six lower incisors ; 
two upper and two lower canines; ten upper and eight lower molars ; intermediate upper 
incisors separate, cylindrical ; canines smaller than the molars ; body thick, covered witb 
prickles above and stiff hairs below, capable of rolling up into a ball; muzzle pointed; 
ears medium size, or very short and rounded ; toes armed with streng nails; tail short or 
‘one; ten mamme, six pectoral, and four ventral; no cecum; clavicles complete. 
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