TIIK HKDGEHOG. 



OEDER II.— BESTIR. 



{Ferce Insectifone.) 

 The Hedgehog, Erinaceus Europmis, Linn., 

 Is found in suitable localities throughout Ireland. 



With respect to the carnivorous propensities of the hedgehog, the 



for T8iT("''l293T--"'"'"''''''^'''^' ^^ ^^''' ^' ^^^^'' J'^"" *^ ^^'^ Zoologist 



wv' ^^^T ^'Tl ^^° ^ ^^'^ ^'"■^•^ °' ^^'"^ hedgehogs which I kept in a garden, of 

 which they had the range ; in the same garden I also had several rabbits. After 

 they had been together for some days, I found that a rabbit was killed every night, 

 the remams of the skin and the bones only being left. This 1 supposed to be 

 done by my neighbours cats, and prepared to wage war on them accordingly 

 but, to my surprise on peeping into the garden one mornmg, I saw a hedgehog 

 busy at work with his nose buried in the fresh-cut throat of an expiring rabbit 

 n? I'l 'Z T °^^Yn''l"''^' ^ l'""^ "" ^"^^^ ^'^'-^t ^^'^ 'hedgehog hid betn guilty 



i^ti " Tt T- i'' '*'" Jiedgehogs I have had seemed to become "pos- 

 sessed, and died m that state ; each one, about three days before its death, was 

 seized with apparent msanity, and continued to run backwards and forwards in 

 mrSrr Y ^'tN^' ^^^^^^^^.^/i^the grass before its house from morning 

 till mgl t, and probably m the night too ; they appeared to run as if for life and 

 evidently ran the hie out of themselves, as, after .about three days of it, t '; be- 

 SheTlth."' ' "'°"^^' P'-eviously they had appeared to be m excel- 



iq^pT"*!oT *^^ hedgehog, in The Gardeners' Chroniele of 18th July 

 KS46 (p. 480), states that, attracted by the cries of a leveret, he hastened 

 to the spot, and found it struggling to release itself from the jaws of a 

 hedgehog Another correspondent to the same number of that periodical 

 mentions the ciixumstance of one of these animals killing and eatincr five 

 yotjng chickens in the course of a night. Minute particulars are given 

 in both instances. ° 



nslnri'f"^''' f!^tributed by Dr. R. Ball, to The Irish Penny Jonrnal 

 (1840-41) contains a very full account of the habits and peculiarities of 

 the hedgehog. One of these animals, kept in confinement by that gen- 

 tleman, partook ol a great variety of food, including "bread and milk, 

 earth-worms, frogs, mice, sparrows, and various other animal matters." 

 Another captive of the same species was supplied by Dr. Ball with 

 whiskey mixed with sugar in expectation that this regimen would have 

 the eltect of taming the animal : — 



''The spirit soon showed it.s power, and, like other beasts that indulge in it, 

 hewasanythuigbuthimsef; and his lack-lustre leaden eye was rendered still 

 rlnir"^?^ \ V"^""' '^'■'"''"'" expression. He staggered towards us in a 

 ndiculous get-out-of-my-way sort of manner; however, he had not gone far be- 

 loie his potation produced all its eflects-he tottered, then fell on his side • he 

 was drunk m the lu 1 sense of the word ; he could not even hold by the gro md. 

 We could then pu 1 him about, open his mouth, twitch his whiskers &c • he 

 was unresisting. Iherc was a strange expression in his face of that'self-con- 

 hdence which we see in cowards when inspired by drinking. We put liim awav 

 and some twelve hours afterwards found him running about an^as was ure' 

 dieted, quite tame his spines lying so smoothly and regularly that' he could be 



kOUh. .n°r '^^""'^ 'ft ^'^"''i'l .*■'•-')'. We turned him into the kitchen to 

 kill the cockroaches, and know nothing further of him." 



B 2 



