232 A Badger Colony in Dalmeny Park. [Sess. 



VII.— A BADGER COLONY IN DALMENY PARK. 



By Mr CHARLES CAMPBELL. 



(Read March 24, 1897.) 



In reading a short paper on the badger before this Society, I 

 cannot claim to have mnch that is new to say regarding this 

 animal and its habits. However, I shall mostly confine my 

 remarks to what has come under my own observation in the 

 woods of Dalmeny, and it may not be entirely without interest 

 in showing how a colony of these animals may exist in a 

 much frequented neighbourhood, and still escape observation, 

 or only come under the notice of such as may seek them out. 



For some years back, paragraphs have been appearing in 

 the papers with, I think, increasing frequency, relating the 

 capture of a badger at some part of the Lothians or neighbour- 

 ing counties. It was only at the beginning of this month 

 that a letter appeared in the ' Scotsman ' giving an account of 

 the capture of a badger near Boxburgh. Some of the nearer 

 of these records I am inclined to believe may be set down to 

 animals which have migrated from the colony which I will 

 now speak of — for, although it still seems to hold its own, it 

 has not increased of late, and the question of food -supply 

 alone would cause some of the younger generations to seek a 

 new home. 



In a secluded corner of Dalmeny Park there has existed for 

 some years now a colony of badgers. Their history, briefly re- 

 lated, is as follows. In 1881 the Earl of Eosebery brought a 

 pair of badgers from the south of England, and had them lib- 

 erated in Dalmeny woods. Nothing more was seen of them 

 inside the policies, but a badger killed at Hopetoun shortly 

 afterwards was supposed to be one of the pair. In 1889 

 three others, one male and two females, were brought to Dal- 

 meny. Profiting by experience, these, instead of being liberated 

 in the open, were let into an old fox-earth. Here they at once 

 took up their abode, and seemed to adapt themselves to their 

 new surroundings. The earth is situated in the side of a 

 ravine some few hundred yards from the sea-shore. The soil, 

 being loose sand, is most suitable for burrowing. The trees 



