112 
HEDGEHOG. 
tormented me many years, because I knew lioggy to be a 
blood-thirsty poacher, a regular kniglit-errant for attacldng 
unanswerable : what could I reply ? and as for the eggs of game, when he ac- 
cused the hedgehog of that kind of poaching also, I could not say " Oh no, you 
are prejudiced there, you have never seen a hedgehog so engaged, and there- 
fore you may be accusing him of other people's crimes ; indeed, I don't think 
he likes, or will eat eggs :'' because I had had ample proof that if he spared an 
egg for three days, it was only because he was unable to get at its contents, 
and for no other reason whatever ; and because I have no doubt that a par- 
tridge's egg would be more manageable than a fowl's egg ; and that if the hen 
partridge should by chance be near, and endeavour to defend her nest, she 
would be herself demolished by the plunderer, as easily as a ringdove or young- 
turkey. — J. C. Atkinson; Uutton, Benvick-on-Ttveed.'^ Zool. 791. 
" With regard to the hedgehog's guilt in devouring eggs of poultry or 
game, I can only state, that I have several times taken these animals in traps 
baited with a hen's egg, intended to ensnare carrion crows ; but whether the 
hedgehogs had walked into the trap inadvertently, or whether they actually 
wished to obtain possession of the egg, I cannot say. The inference is cer- 
tainly against them. — Archibald Jcrdon ; Bonjedivard.'" Zool. 856. 
" That this animal is the subject of some ' vulgar errors,' may be perfectly 
true ; but that it is carnivorous, I feel absolutely convinced. Many years ago 
I had opportunities of watching the animal, having captured and kept for a 
short time several individuals. They fed readily from the very first, and in 
particular some, to whom it was offered, drank milk from a saucer most gree- 
dily. The common garden shell-snails appeared very acceptable morsels, being 
cracked with the utmost ease (if not too large for the mouth), and champed 
down with the greatest gusto. Mr. Bury expresses a doubt (Zool. 818), whe- 
ther the hedgehog will eat eggs ; but I would suggest, that his experiment is 
not conclusive. He states having offered his urchin ' a bantam's egg ;' but I 
believe those eggs have not unfrequently very strong shells ; certainly I have 
occasionally met with eggs, the shells of which would puzzle a larger animal 
than the hedgehog not having the ttov cttu for making the first fracture, nor 
ihe power of striking, as a bird, with its beak. If Mr. Bury would select a 
thin-shelled egg, or one with a cracked shell, perhaps the result would be dif- 
ferent. To prove the carnivorous propensities of this animal, I may mention 
two circumstances, not indeed within my own knowledge, but of which I was 
informed, from an authority to be relied upon. In the first instance, a game- 
keeper, having for some nights lost one of a brood of pheasants he was rearing 
under a hen, confined the latter to a corner of the coop, and set a rat-trap, 
wherein next morning he found a hedgehog; thus convincing himself, as he 
