HABITS OF THE BADGER. 283 



the bones and wool of lambs in its burrows, though the animal 

 is not generally regarded as injurious by the farmers. 



The Badger has been called a " timid '' animal. So it is, in 

 the sense that it avoids rather than confronts impending danger ; 

 but this is simply the instinctive prudence and discretion of a 

 creature which prefers the absolute immunity of its subterra- 

 nean resorts to the chances of unequal combat in which it is at 

 disadvantage. Certainly, no lack of courage, determination, 

 and physical endurance is seen when the creature, captured or 

 cut off from its retreat, is brought to bay. Its pluck is then 

 as conspicuous as its really formidable strength. The cruel 

 sport of ''Badger-baiting" is sometimes indulged in the West ; 

 and if the animal be given a barrel or similar retreat in w^hich 

 it is secure from attack in the rear, it may i^rove more than a 

 match for a strong dog. Indeed, the fighting qualities of the 

 Badger, and stubborn resistance it offers at whatever unfair 

 odds, have supplied our language with a word of peculiar sig- 

 nificance : to " badger'' is to beset on all sides and harass and 

 worry. The stout, thick-set, and depressed shape of the animal 

 is greatly in its favor, combining with the long loose hair to 

 i:>reveut a dog from reaching vulnerable parts, and to embarrass 

 it in attempting to take hold ; the snap of the jaws inflicts a 

 serious wound -, and, finally, the tenacity of life is at a high 

 rate. 



A sketch of this animal, from the pen of Dr. J. S. Xewberry, 

 gives corroborative evidence of the Badger's powers of self- 

 defence; I transcribe the passages at some length, as they 

 afford other items in the natural history of the species: — 



" In traversing the arid surfaces of the sage plains of eastern 

 California, Utah, and Oregon, there is, perhaps, no one thing 

 which the traveller may be more sure of seeing every day of 

 his journey than the burrow of a badger ; and, after cursing the 

 country, and the folly which led him to cross these barren, hot, 

 and dusty surfaces, there is nothing he will more certainly do, 

 whether on foot or mounted, than tumble into one of these 

 same badger holes, and yet the chances are more than equal 

 that he never sees a living badger on which to revenge him- 

 self; for the badger is a shy and timid animal, and the country 

 he inhabits is so open, it rarely happens that he is surprised at 

 a distance from his burrow. During our march of several 

 hundred miles through the country inhabited by the badger 

 this did occur, however, on one or two occasions, and gave rise 



