[This essay begins with a phrase written in Greek letters that I am unable to reproduce]: “That the fox knows many things, and the hedge-hog but one important thing,” is a proverbial saying of the antients.+ The latter knows how to defend himself without fighting, and to wound without making an attack. Having little strength, and less agility for flight, he has received from [300] Nature a spinous armour, with the faculty of rolling himself up like a ball, and of presenting on all sides those sharp weapons, which repel the enemy. The more he is harassed, eh rolls himself up the closer. His fears tend still farther to defend him; for, by throwing out his urine, the smell and humidity of which spreads over his whole body, he completely disgusts the enemy. Thus most dogs content themselves with barking, and never choose to seize the hedge-hog. The fox, however, accomplishes his end, by wounding the animal’s feet, and making the blood run into the mouth. But the hedge-hog is proof against the weasel, the martin, the polecat, the ferret, and birds of prey. From the head to the tail, both male and female are equally covered with spines, and only the under parts of their bodies are garnished with hair. But those arms, which are so useful to them in defending against enemies, become exceeding inconvenient when they want to unite. They cannot copulate in the manner of other quadrupeds, but face to face, either on end, or lying. The females come in season in the spring, and bring forth in the beginning of summer. I have frequently had the mother and her young brought to me in the month of June. The litter generally consists of three or four, and sometimes of five. When very young, they are white, and the buds of the spines are only visible through the skin. I tried to rear some of them, by putting the mother and her young in a barrel, with [301] plenty of provisions: But, in place of suckling, she devoured them one after another. This was not the effect of hunger; for she eat [sic] bread, meat, and fruits. One would never have imagined that an animal so slow and indolent, could be so impatient of confinement. It even possesses the same species of malevolence with that of the monkey. A hedge-hog that had slipped into the kitchen, took the meat out of a small kettle, and defiled it with his ordure. I kept males and females in a room together; but, though they lived, they never coupled. I left several of them in my gardens, where they did so little mischief, that it could hardly be perceived. They live upon fallen fruits; and dig the earth to a small depth with their noses. They eat may-bugs, beetles, grashoppers [sic] worms, and some roots. They are likewise fond of flesh-meat, which they devour either raw or roasted. In the country, they are frequently found in woods, under the trunks of old trees, in the cliffs of rocks, and particularly among the stones collected upon the fields and vineyards. I am uncertain whether they climb trees, as some naturalists assert,* or use their spines for transporting fruits or grapes. They seize with the mouth every thing they eat; and, though they abound in our forests, they have never been discovered upon trees, but are always found in holes or under the moss. They [302] stir not during the day, but go about the whole night. They approach not the habitations of men; but, though they sometimes appear in the meadows, they prefer dry and elevated grounds. They are taken by the hand, never fly, nor defend themselves with their feet or their teeth; but, when touched, they roll up in the form of a ball, and will not extend themselves, unless they be plunged in water. They sleep during the winter; and, therefore, the provisions they are said to amass in summer, would be entirely useless to them. They eat little, and can live long without food. Their blood is nearly as cold as that of those animals who sleep during winter. Their flesh makes not good eating; and their skin, of which no use is now made, was formerly employed for heckling hemp.
Some authors mention two species of hedge-hog, one with a snout like a hog, and the other with a muzzle resembling that of a dog. But I know only one species, of which there are even no varieties in our climates. The hedge-hogs are very generally diffused: they are found every where in Europe, excepting in the cold regions of Norway, Lapland, &c. There are hedge-hogs, says Flacourt,* in Madagascar, and they are called Sora. The hedge-hog mentioned by Tachard,+ seems to be another animal; and the [303] hedge-hogs of America,* and of Siberia,+ are the species which approach nearest to that of the common kind. Lastly, the hedge-hog of Malacca3 seems to come nearer the porcupine than the hedge-hog. [304]
* This animal has five toes on each foot; and its body is covered with strong short spines. Its nose is long; the nostrils are bordered on each side with a loose flap; the ears rounded, broad, and naked; the eyes small; the legs short, naked, and dusky; the inner toe is shortest, and the claws are weak; the upper part of the face, the sides and rump, are covered with strong coarse hair of a yellowish and cinereous colour; the back with a strong short spines of a whitish colour, with a bar of black through their middle: The tail is an inch long; and the length of the body, from tail to nose, is ten inches; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 316.
In Greek, [a word in Greek letters I’m unable to reproduce]; in Latin, Echinus, Herinaceus, Erinaceus, Echinus terrestris; in Italian, Erinaceo, Riccio, Aizzo; in Spanish, Erizo; in Portuguese, Ourizo, Orico cachero; in German, Igel; in Swedish, Igelkott; in Danish, Pind Swin; in Polish, Jez, Ziennay; in Dutch, Yseren Vereken; in French, Le Herisson, Eurchon.
Echinus terrestris; Gesner, quad. p. 368.
Herinaceus; Gesner. Icon. quad. p. 106.
Echinus sive Erinaceus terrestris: Ray, Synops. quad. p. 231.
Erinaceus Europeus, auriculis rotundatis, naribus cristatis; Linn. Syst. p. 75.
Acanthion vulgaris nostras, Herinaceus, Echinus; Klein. quad. p. 66.
Erinaceus auriculis erectis; Brisson. Regn. animal. p. 181.
+ Zenodotus, Plutarchus, et alii ex Archilocho [back to page 300].
* Arbores ascendit, poma et pyra decutit, in istis fese volutat ut spinis haereant; Sperling. Zoologia, p. 281 [back to page 302].
* Voyage de Flacourt, p. 152.
+ Le second voyage du P. Tachard, p. 272 [back to page 303].
* Echinus Indicus albus; Ray, Synops. quad. p. 232. Echinus Americanus albus; Albert Seba, vol. 1. p. 78. Acanthion echinatus, Erinaceus Americanus albus Surinamensis; Klein. quad. p. 66.
+ Erinaceus Sibericus; Albert Seba, vol. 1. p. 66.
3. Porcus aculeatus sue Histrix Malaccensis; Albert Seba, vol. 1. p. 81. Acanthion aculeis longissimis; Histrix genuine; Porcus aculeatus Malaccensis; Klein. quad. p. 66. Histrix Malaccensis, auriculis pendulis; Linn. Syst. p. 75. Erinaceus auriculis pendulis; Brisson, Regn. anim. p. 183 [back to page 304].