POISON-RESISTING POWER OF THE HEDGEHOG. 350 



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 pro- 

 ceeded 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 proceed- 

 ing, 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 harmf ul 

 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 lias been unexpectedly 

 discovered to have been the perpetrator 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 tine 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. 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 pro- 

 truded from its mouth. One of these creatures has been detected 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 pheasant had been killed on the previous 

 day, but its death had been laid at the door of the stoat. Earth and air thus seem to furnish 

 their quota of nourishment for the Hedgehog, which extends its depredations to the aqueous 

 element, and displays a cultivated taste for fish. So fond is this carnivorous creature of the 

 finny tribe, that it has been frequently caught in traps which have been baited with fish for 

 the express purpose of decoying the Hedgehog into their treacherous jaws. 



