Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1910 — HABITS OF THE HEDGEHOG. [ARTICLE]

HABITS OF THE HEDGEHOG.

Destroyer of Cook roaches—How He Gets the Better of Adder*. The hedgehog, that butt of juvenile rustic horseplay, is the possessor of tastes which, like Sam Weller’s knowledge of London, are “extensive and peculiar.”’ Scorning fastidiousness it can make a hearty meal of nearly any insect and is one of the few vertebrates which can tackle the repulsive cockroach. <oFor effectual extermination of beetles and crickets it Is as useful as a mongoose among the rats, but it is not generally known that it has a partiality toward snakes and adders. The methods it employs for the attack are Interesting. Having come upon the adder it goads that reptile to the offensive and at the first dart immediately rolls Into a ball, the Edinburgh Scotchman says. The adder Is then left to attack the spines, in which encounter it naturally comes off second best. After a little, when the hedgehog feels that his antagonist has exhausted his power, it once more opens out and makes a bite at the adder’s back, thereby breaking its spine. .It then proceeds to crunch the whole of the reptile’s body by means of Its powerful jaws, and after that it Is said to start at the tail and devour Its prey. Of eggs the hedgehog is also very fond, thereby giving just cause to keepers and farmers to destroy it on sight. CaSes have been known where hedgehogs actually forced the hen pheasant off her nest and then proceeded to demolish the contents. There is a tradition among country people to the effect that the hedgehog will suck the milk from cows, who certainly show strong aversion to the hedgehog, but eminent* naturalists scout the idea, their explanation being that it is the heat of the cow which attracts the hedgehog, the cow’s dislike being no doubt caused by unpleasant contact with the prickly spines. are invulnerable to most of their enemies except man, although the wily fox has been known to get the better of them occasionally.