THE WEASEL FAMILY i45 



body, so that the creature when seized by any part can turn 

 rapidly and bite. The badger is endowed with astonishing 

 strength of jaw, which it is impossible to dislocate, the lower 

 being articulated with the upper in such a manner that it cannot 

 be detached except by breaking the skull. This strength of jaw, 

 combined with the flattened, ridged molar teeth, enables it, no 

 doubt, to crack up roots, bones, nuts, and other substances. It 

 is almost omnivorous in food, eating nearly every kind of fruit, 

 the eggs of birds, roots, fungi, nuts, honey and the larvae of wasps 

 and bees, frogs, snails, and insects. 



Like most beasts of any considerable size in a wild state, the 

 badger is silent under ordinary circumstances, except during the 

 breeding season, when it grunts and yelps. In captivity, however, 

 when it has ceased to fear making its presence known, it is as noisy 

 as a dog, uttering sharp barks and yelps not unlike those of a 



puppy. 



The sexes do not associate much, except at the breedmg 

 season, which appears to take place in October or earlier in the 

 summer-time. The young are born within the deepest recesses 

 of the female's burrow, in a large, snug nest made of dry fern 

 and grass. The young may be born any time between March 

 and June. It would seem as though the normal period of 

 gestation was about six months, but apparently the female badger, 

 like the roe deer, has the power of retarding the development of 

 the foetus, so that cases are recorded of female badgers having 

 gone with young for more than twelve months. 



The young are quite blind when born, and in some cases do 

 not open their eyes till more than a fortnight after birth. 



Although each badger dwells alone in its burrow, except, 

 perhaps, during the breeding season, or when the female is rearing 

 her young, they are not wholly solitary, since a number of them 

 seem to make their burrows in close proximity, and frequently a 

 pair or more will go out together to forage for food. 



They are nocturnal in habits. Their favourite haunts are the 

 deepest recesses of woods or the copse-clad sides of hills, cliffs, or 

 quarries. At the bottom of some hillside, or possibly under- 



