Hedgehog
“The hedgehog’s natural food consists unquestionably of insects; but when a good opportunity presents itself the greedy creature is easily tempted by larger and more highly flavored prey. In its wild state the hedgehog does not hesitate to suck the blood of young rabbits caught in their hole during the mother’s absence. The eggs of quail and partridge, too, it esteems as a most delicious feast, but its supreme delight is to wring the necks of a brood of little chickens. One night last year I heard a great commotion in the hen-house. The roosters were raising cries of alarm, the hens were cackling in desperate fright. I ran out to see what the trouble was. One of my hedgehogs had crept in under the door, and I found the rogue regaling himself on some little chickens almost under their mother’s wing, she being powerless to help them in the dark. With one kick I sent the assassin rolling outside, and the next day thorough repairs were taken in hand. The holes on a level with the floor were closed up, and since then I have had no further trouble from my insect-hunters. With proper precautions against their [[53]]thirst for blood, I have two larva-devourers of great value for my garden.”
“But won’t they do damage of another kind?” asked Louis. “I have heard that hedgehogs climb trees and shake off the ripe fruit, and then roll on it so as to spit it with their spines, after which they carry it off to their holes and eat it at their ease.”
“Pay no attention to any such stories, my boy. It is utterly impossible for a hedgehog to climb a tree. Clumsy and stubby as it is, with legs so short and claws useless for climbing, how could it manage an athletic feat that calls for agility, hooked claws, and supple limbs? No, my friend, the hedgehog does not climb trees, neither does it carry off fruit transfixed with its spines. The only vestige of truth in that old wives’ tale is that hedgehogs do not live exclusively on prey; if they find fruit that they like on the ground, a very ripe pear or a juicy peach, for example, they munch it with as great contentment as they would a beetle or a June-bug.”
“It is also said,” Louis added, “that if kept in a house the hedgehog will drive away rats.”
“Ah, that I am quite willing to believe. By day the animal crouches in a corner and sleeps, but at night it is on the move, always hunting for slugs, fat beetles, and other insects. Consequently it may well be that its noisy hunt for prey as it goes poking its pointed snout into every hole and cranny frightens the rats and mice and drives them away, especially as the nocturnal prowler exhales a disagreeable odor [[54]]calculated to betray its presence. Having neither the cat’s light paw nor that animal’s great patience in lying in wait for game, the hedgehog does not indulge in hunting rats; but if by good luck one falls into its clutches, it is accepted with delight, for the hedgehog’s great feast is blood, freshly killed flesh. When I wish to give my two hedgehogs a special treat I throw them a bleeding beef liver or a chicken’s entrails. Anything of that sort is eagerly devoured. Tastes so undisguisedly carnivorous tell you what must happen to a mouse caught by one of these animals. I attribute to them the disappearance of some nests of rats that used to trouble me.
“To satisfy its devouring hunger the hedgehog appears to attack all sorts of prey alike, even planting its teeth in a viper without any thought of the reptile’s venom; and in still other respects the animal enjoys a remarkable immunity. You have seen the Spanish fly, that magnificent, strong-smelling insect that lives on ash-trees and is distinguished by sheath wings of a superb golden green.”
“Yes, I remember it,” said Jules. “It is used for raising blisters after being dried and ground to powder.”
“That is correct. If, then, this powder eats into the skin so readily, what effect ought it to have on the delicate lining of the stomach if introduced into that organ? What animal could swallow it without suffering torture and speedy death? Well, by an exception that I cannot undertake to explain the hedgehog can feed on this horrible poison without [[55]]the slightest apparent injury. A celebrated Russian naturalist, Pallas, has seen it make a meal on Spanish flies with no ill results. For a repast of that sort a stomach peculiarly constructed is certainly necessary.