Badger 1005 



run, when, just as we were within thirty feet of each other, 

 he fell tail-first into a shallow badger-hole that he had not seen, 

 and I fell head-first into another I had not seen. We both were 

 greatly surprised, quite shocked indeed, but he recovered first. 

 He scrambled out of his pitfall, ran ten feet nearer to me, 

 then dived down his home-hole, towards which he had been 

 making from the first. 



Those who know the Badger of Europe have little idea of 

 the life of the prairie species. The former seems to live much 

 like a Skunk, trotting about at night, above ground, seeking its 

 food in the woods and thickets, retiring to an underground 

 home to rest during the hours of daylight. But the prairie 

 Badger spends the greater part of its life underground, where 

 it digs, feeds, sleeps, and multiplies much like a Mole. It 

 rarely comes out during the day, except to bask in the sun by 

 its doorway, and then is ready to plunge below at the slight- 

 est alarm. 



Deep underground, this animal is safe from violence. It 

 is hopeless to dig it out, for it can burrow like a Mole; it 

 succumbs to nothing but a few barrels of water sent suddenly 

 after it. This shuts off^ our diver's wind, and forces it to the 

 surface to breathe and meet its adversaries. On one occasion 

 I ran after a Badger on the prairie, and just as I neared him he 

 plunged into a hole that was but three feet deep. I seized his 

 tail as he was digging it deeper and tried to haul him out, but 

 he braced himself with both fore-feet and defied my best efforts. 



Water was at hand, but a couple of bucketfuls thrown in 

 merely caused him to swell out his body till it plugged the hole, 

 and no water whatever passed him to get near his head. A 

 spade handle, however, pushed between him and the wall let 

 the flood down with a sudden 'gulch,' and the Badger was 

 forced to turn about and wage unequal fight. 



The Old World Badger has long been famous as a fighter, as a 

 and the prairie species seems no whit behind its cousin. It is 

 so strong that a man cannot pull it out of its hole if once it gets 

 fairly braced. It is so protected by its thick, loose-fitting hide 



