70 NATURAL HISTORY. 



where it is termed the " Brock," a name familiar to us all, 

 through the means of Dandie Dinmorit, who also immortalized 

 the pepper and mustard terriers. 



The Badger lives at the bottom of deep burrows which it 

 excavates, and in which it passes all the day, sleeping on a 

 very comfortable bed of hay and grass. When the evening 

 approaches it seeks its food, consisting of roots, fruit, insects, 

 and sometimes young rabbits. It is also said to attack the 

 wild bee, and boldly to devour the honey and combs, its thick 

 hair and skin rendering it utterly regardless of the stings of 

 the enraged bees, who " might as well sting a barber's 

 block." 



The cruel sport of baiting the badger is still continued. 

 The poor creature is placed inside a kennel, and dogs set at 

 it, who are not unfrequently worsted by the badger, as its 

 bite is terrific, and its skin so tough, and hair so thick, that 

 the bites of the dog do not take full effect. The pleasure of 

 this " sport," as in many other diversions of the sporting 

 world, appears to consist in trying whether the dogs or the 

 badger will be most mangled in a given time. 



Its skin is rather valuable, the hair being extensively em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of brushes, and its fur being in 

 some request for holsters. The omnivorous and thrifty 

 Chinese eat its flesh, as indeed they will that of most animals, 

 and consider its hams a very great dainty. The length of the 

 badger is about two feet three inches. 



THE OTTER. 



The OTTER seems to play the same part in the water as 

 the polecat and the other weasels on the land. Like the pole- 

 cat, it is excessively rapacious ; like the polecat, it destroys 

 many more creatures than it can devour ; and as the polecat 

 only ea's the brain and sucks the blood, so the other daintily 

 eats the flakes at the back of the fish's neck, and leaves the 

 remainder for less fastidious animals. In Scotland, where the 

 otter abounds, it is not uncommon to find a large fish, such 



