356 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
The diet of the Hedgehog does not appear to be exclusively of an animal nature ; in confinement 
it will feed readily on soaked bread and on cooked vegetables, and in a natural state it is said to eat 
the roots of plants and the fruits that fall from the trees in gardens and orchards. Gilbert White 
sa y S : — “ The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my garden is very curious ; with 
their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat 
the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched.” Some writers have believed that the 
Hedgehog is so fond of fruit as actually to climb the trees, knock off apples and pears, and then 
throwing itself down upon them so that they may stick to its spines, walk off quietly with its booty 
to some quiet retreat. According to HClian, the ancient Greek Hedgehogs played a somewhat 
similar trick with figs. 
With all this, we have not quite done with the diet, real or supposed, of this curious little 
animal. It is a common belief in most parts of this country that the Hedgehogs will visit the Cows 
during the night and suck their milk, leaving but a scanty supply for the milkmaid in the morning. 
There seems, however, to be no satisfactory evidence of the commission of this crime. 
When disturbed in its excursions the Hedgehog has the habit of rolling itself up into a ball, with 
the head and legs tucked carefully away under the belly, and the whole exposed surface completely 
enclosed by the spiny skin of the back. This is effected by the contraction of a most complicated 
system of cutaneous muscles, the most important of which, called the orbicularis pcmuiculi, forming a 
broad band encircling the body, draws together the edges of the spiny part of the skin towards the 
centre of the ventral side of the body, thus forming a sort of prickly bag within which the whole body 
and limbs of the animal are enclosed. When thus arranged, by the action of the cutaneous muscles 
the whole of the spines of the upper surface are strongly and firmly erected, making a fence which 
suffices to protect the Hedgehog from the attacks of nearly all his enemies. Scarcely any Hogs can be 
found with pluck enough to make a successful attack upon a rolled -up Hedgehog, although it is said 
that some Hogs and Foxes have a trick by which to get at him, founded on the fact that a jet of water 
poured into the small aperture within which the head of the animal is concealed will cause him to 
unroll himself at once. The same power of contraction serves the Hedgehog in good stead in protect- 
ing him from other perils. If he finds himself falling down a precipice or from the top of a wall, or 
down a very steep slope, he immediately makes himself into a ball, and in this form will fall from 
very considerable heights (eighteen or twenty feet) without receiving the least injury; indeed, 
Hedgehogs have been observed more than once voluntarily to throw themselves down considerable 
distances, contracting in this fashion. On reaching the bottom they simply opened themselves, and 
walked off* none the worse for the fall. 
The voice of the Hedgehog is a sound intermediate between a grunt and a squeak ; Shakespeare, as 
is well known, calls it “ whining.” When kept in houses for destroying insects, it is said frequently to 
make itself disagreeable by its noise at night. In many places, both in this country and on the Con- 
tinent, the Hedgehog is eaten, but chiefly, it is said, by gipsies and tramps. The mode of cooking 
adopted, we believe, is roasting the animal in his skin, and the flesh is generally said to be excellent. 
According to M. Cherblanc, the French gipsies envelop the Hedgehogs in a sort of paste of clay, and 
then cook them over the fire, turning them from time to time until the clay is quite dry and hard, 
when the roast is considered to be perfect. This earthen envelope is then broken and removed, 
carrying the spines with it. 
Notwithstanding their formidable armour, the Hedgehogs have other enemies besides man. Hogs 
will attack them, but not often with success, unless we may believe in their employing the ruse already 
alluded to, which is also said to have suggested itself to the cunning mind of Reynard, But the Foxes 
are said to adopt another mode of dealing with their wished-for prey. When they meet with a rolled- 
up Hedgehog they will, it is said, roll him along till they come to some water, into which they drop 
the unfortunate little animal, and then seize him during his struggles to escape drowning. On the 
continent of Europe the Great Horned Owl or Eagle Owl ( Bubo maxima#) is described as an inveterate 
enemy of the Hedgehog. 
The female Hedgehog goes with young about seven weeks. Before bringing her progeny into 
the world, she selects some more or less sheltered situation in a hedge- bottom or thicket, or sometimes 
in a corn-field, in which she constructs a nest of moss and leaves, so well put together, that evei? 
