290 



THE INSECT-EATING ANIMALS. 



they live singly or in couples and lead a perfectly 

 nocturnal life. It is not until after sunset that they 

 wake from their daily slumber and go out in search 

 of food, which, with most of them, consists of plants 

 and animals, and with some only of the latter. 

 Fruit and juicy roots, seeds, small mammals, bi^rds, 

 insects and their grubs. Snails, Rain-Worms, etc., 

 form the ingredients which lavish nature has pro- 

 vided for their meals. In exceptional cases some 

 of them also dare attack larger animals, such as 

 poultry or young Hares. They are slow, heavy and 

 rather lazy creatures, confined to the ground; and 

 they step on the entire sole in walking. Among 

 their senses smell ranks first; but their hearing is 

 also acute, while sight and taste are very deficient 

 and their dullness of sensibility of touch is really 

 unrivalled. The mental qualities of the Hedgehogs 

 are on a rather low plane. They are timid, shy and 

 stupid, but fairly good-natured, or rather indifferent 

 with regard to the surrounding circumstances, and 

 therefore easily tamed. The young are from three 

 to eight in number and blind at birth; the mother 

 tends them carefully and even exhibits a certain 

 amount of courage in their defense, which she lacks 

 entirely under different circumstances. The major- 

 ity have the peculiar habit of rolling themselves 

 into a ball at the slightest danger, in order to pro- 

 tect their soft parts against any possible attack. In 

 this attitude, also, they sleep. Those which inhabit 

 northern climes spend the cold season in uninter- 

 rupted hibernation, and those which exist in the 

 equatorial regions sleep during the dry season. 



The direct usefulness of the Hedgehogs is slight. 

 Nowadays at least one hardly knows what to do 

 with a Hedgehog which has been killed. Their in- 

 direct use, however, is greater, as they destroy a mul- 

 titude of noxious animals. For this reason they 

 deserve our fullest sympathy and the most generous 

 protection, instead of the contempt they usually are 

 subjected to. 



The Common Of the Common Hedgehog {Eniia- 



Hedgehog De- ceus europCBUs), the whole body with 

 scribed. all its parts is very stout, thick and 

 short, the muzzle is pointed and indented in front, 

 the mouth is cleft far back; the ears are wide, the 

 eyes black and small. A few black whisker hairs 

 stand among the whitish or , reddishryellow hair 

 of the face, the fur on the sides of the nose and 

 upper lip being dark brown ; a white patch lies 

 behind the eyes. The hair on the neck and under 

 portion is light red with an admixture of yellowish 

 or whitish gray. The spines are yellowish, with 

 dark brown rings in the middle and at the tip; their 

 upper surface shows twenty-four to twenty-five fine 

 longitudinal grooves, which are separated by arched 

 ridges; the center shows a marrow tube filled with 

 large cells. The bodily length of the animal is from 

 ten to twelve inches; the tail measures one inch, the 

 height at the shoulder is about five or seven inches. 

 The female differs from the male by its slightly 

 ' larger size, a more pointed muzzle, stouter body and 

 lighter, more grayish hue; her forehead is also usu- 

 ally not so deeply set with spines, the head appear- 

 ing longer because of this arrangement. 



The Common Hedgehog is distributed not only, 

 over all Europe, with the exception of the coldest 

 parts, but also over the greater part of northern 

 Asia; it is found in Syria as well as in western and 

 southeastern Siberia. It is a quite common animal 

 in Great Britain, especially in the south of England. 

 It is rare, but not entirely absent, in Ireland. 



Peculiarities of The Hedgehog is a queer fellow, but 

 the Hedge- a good-natured, tinjiid one withal, 

 ^off- and gains its. livelihood as best it 



can, by means of hard toil and trouble. Having 

 little aptitude for society, it is always found singly, 

 or at the most in the society of its mate. Under the 

 densest of thickets, heaps of dry wood or in hedges, 

 each Hedgehog settles down singly and as com- 

 fortably as it can. If no ready-made burrow can be 

 found, it digs one out for itself with great labor, and 

 lines it with some appropriate material. The bur- 

 row reaches about twelve inches below the surface 

 and is provided with two exits, of which one, as a 

 rule, faces south, the other north. But thfese doors 

 are subject to change, like those of the Squirrel, 

 especially during a violent northern or southern 

 wind. In high corn the creature usually only makes 

 a large nest. 



If our bristled hero, while walking, hears anything 

 suspicious, he stops, listens and sniffs, and one clearly' 

 sees that the sense of smell is by far the most acute, 

 especially in comparison with that of sight. It not 

 infrequently happens that a Hedgehog runs right 

 under the feet of a hunter, then suddenly stops, 

 sniffs around and runs away in a hurry, unless it 

 should prefer to resort to its method of. defence, 

 that is, to roll itself up into a ball. The former 

 shape of the animal then shows in nothing;' it forms 

 an egg-shaped lump, showing an indentation at one 

 place; but the rest is of fairly regular roiindness. 

 The indentation leads to the abdomen, and in it lie, 

 closely pressed together, the snout, the fore legs and 

 the little stub-like tail. When the creature moves 

 quietly along, the coat has a rather smooth appear- 

 ance and the thousand spines lie quite smoothly, 

 arranged like shingles on a roof; they bristle on all 

 sides as soon as the Hedgehog assumes the ball- 

 shape and give it the appearance of a terrible ball 

 of spines. A somewhat experienced person, how- 

 ever, even then finds no difficulty in carrying a 

 Hedgehog away in his hands. To do this it is only 

 necessary to place the ball in the position the ani- 

 mal would assume for walking, gently stroking the 

 spines in a backward direction, and then they do 

 not hinder one in the least. 



If one of its principal foes, a Dog or a Fox, finds 

 it, the Hedgehog rolls itself together in a hurry, and 

 stays in that attitude under all circumstances. It 

 notices by the furious barking and growling- of its 

 pursuers, that their intentions are earnest, and it 

 carefully guards against giving up its inherited 

 privileges. There are, however, many expedients 

 to induce a Hedgehog to give up its ball shape. 

 If water is poured on it, or it is thrown into the 

 water, it unrolls itself immediately; not only Rey- 

 nard, the rascal, but also many a Dog knows hoV to 

 profit by this use of water, to the detriment of the 

 little creature. Tobacco smoke blown into its nose 

 through the Spines, has the same effect. ' 



The Hedgehog The Hedgehog is by ho means an 

 Seeiiingfor unskilled or clumsy hunter; it knows 

 Food. how to perform certain tricks for 



which one would never give it credit. The princi- 

 pal part of its food consists of insects, though, and 

 this is how it becomes so useful. But it does not 

 content itself with this unsubstantial food, and wages ■ 

 war on other animals also. None of the small mam- 

 mals or birds is secure from it, and among the 

 animals of the lower orders it plays sad havoc. Be- 

 side the multitude of Grasshoppers, Crickets, Cock- 

 roaches, May-bugs, Beetles of all kinds and their 



