Hedgehogs form one of the small groups of insect-eating mammalia, and
are remarkable for being also able to eat those substances which are
destructive to others; for instance, they will devour the wings of
Spanish flies (Cantharides) with impunity, which cause fearful torments
to other animals, and not the least to man, by raising blisters on his
skin. It would seem that the hedgehog is also externally insensible to
poison, for it fights with adders, and is bitten about the lips and nose
without receiving any injury. An experiment has been made by
administering prussic acid to it, which took no effect.
It is well known that hedgehogs are covered with bristles, amounting to
sharp prickles, and that they roll themselves up into a ball. This is
effected by a peculiar set of muscles attached to the skin, by which
they pull themselves into this shape, and at the same time set up every
bristle, and drag their head and limbs within. Such is the resistance
and elasticity of these bristles, that the owners of them may be thrown
to great distances and remain unhurt, and they will even throw
themselves down steep places when they wish to move from a particular
spot.
Hedgehogs are nocturnal animals, and frequent woods, gardens, orchards,
and thick hedge-rows. It is in the latter that I have heard of one being
mistaken by a hen for a bush, in which she might lay her egg in safety.
The fact was announced by the triumphant cackling which these birds
vociferate on such occasions: the egg was consequently searched for, and
found upon the hedgehog's back.
Hedgehogs feed on insects, slugs, frogs, eggs, young birds in the nest,
mice, fallen fruits, and the roots of vegetables, especially the
plantain, boring into the ground to get at these substances. They will
clear a house of black beetles in a few weeks, as I can attest from my
own experience. My kitchen was much infested, not only by them, but by a
sort of degenerated cockroach, descended from the better conditioned
Blattæ, brought in my packages from a tropical country, and which had
resisted all efforts for their extermination, such as boiling water,
pepper, arsenic-wafers, mortar, etc. At last, a friend, whose house had
been cleared of beetles by a hedgehog, made the animal over to me, very
much to the discomfort of my cook, to whom it was an object of terror.
The first night of its arrival a bed was made for it in a hamper, half
full of hay, and a saucer of milk was set within. The next morning the
hedgehog had disappeared, and for several days the search made for it
was fruitless. That it was alive was proved by the milk being drunk out
of the saucer in which it was placed. One night I purposely went into
the kitchen after the family had been for some time in bed, and, as I
opened the door, I saw the little creature slink into a hole under the
oven attached to the grate. Fearing this would sometimes prove too hot
for it, I had some bricks put in to fill up the aperture. The next night
the bricks were pulled away, and overturned, evincing a degree of
strength which astonished us; but, after that, we left the animal to its
own care. The beetles and cockroaches visibly disappeared, but as they
disappeared other things also vanished; kitchen cloths left to dry at
night were missing; then, a silk handkerchief. At last a night-cap left
on the dresser was gone; and these abstractions were most mysterious.
The next day there was a general search in possible and impossible
places, and the end of a muslin string was seen in the oven-hole; it was
seized on, and not only was the night-cap dragged out, but all the
missing and not missing articles which the hedgehog had purloined; most
of them were much torn, and it was supposed that the poor beast had
taken possession of them to make a soft bed. I have not seen such a
propensity noticed elsewhere, and it may be a useful hint to those who
keep hedgehogs. All endeavours to make this animal friendly were
unavailing; but I am told, that hedgehogs are frequently quite
domesticated; and even shew a degree of affection.
Dr. Buckland ascertained the manner in which hedgehogs kill snakes; they
make a sudden attack on the reptile, give it a fierce bite, and then,
with the utmost dexterity, roll themselves up so as to present nothing
but spines when the snake retaliates. They repeat this manoeuvre several
times, till the back of the snake is broken in various places; they then
pass it through their jaws, cracking its bones at short intervals; after
which they eat it all up, beginning at the tail. The old legend, that
hedgehogs suck the udders of cows as they lie on the ground chewing the
cud is, of course, wholly without foundation. They retreat to holes in
trees, or in the earth where they make a bed of leaves, moss, etc., in
which they roll themselves, and these substances sticking to the spines
make them look like a bundle of vegetable matter. In this condition they
pass the winter, in a state of torpidity; but it should be mentioned,
that one which was tame, retained its activity the whole year. There are
instances of hedgehogs performing the office of turnspits in a kitchen;
and, from the facility with which they accommodate themselves to all
sorts of food, they are easily kept. They, however, when once accustomed
to animal diet, will attack young game; and one was detected in the
south of Scotland in the act of killing a leveret.