1896-97-] A Badger Colony in Dalmeny Park. 235 



entered the shed by himself. When I saw it on Sunday the 

 27th December, it was still in the straw-shed, and had just 

 been having its breakfast of milk and fish. It was a chubby 

 little animal, scarcely balf grown. Its coat was of a beautiful 

 silver-grey colour, and the white markings on its face seemed 

 to be more pronounced than is the case in the adult animal. 

 In conversation with Mr David M'Diarmid, head gamekeeper 

 on the Dalmeny estates, regarding the unexpected appearance 

 of the badger, he was of opinion that the old badgers had 

 hunted it out of the burrow, and that cold and hunger had 

 driven it to seek shelter, and rendered it tame. This interest- 

 ing little animal remained in its prison some time longer, but 

 as it gained strength it seemed to grow more restless, and one 

 morning was found to have escaped. Previous to this it had 

 shifted its sleeping-quarters from one end of the shed to the 

 other, and had begun scraping under the walls. While doing 

 this, it must have been smelt by some of its kindred that had 

 been prowling near, and aided in its escape by them, for on 

 examining the hole by which the badger escaped, it was seen 

 that most of the scraping had been done from the outside. 

 Some clays afterwards the escaped prisoner was seen playing 

 about the shrubberies round the Leuchold walls with a little 

 dog belonging to the establishment. 



About the last week in January the weather again became 

 stormy, with snow lying deep on the ground. This badger 

 having once tasted the comforts of captivity, evidently did 

 not relish being out in the cold again, for one morning he was 

 found sound asleep in his old quarters. He was well taken 

 care of, but shortly afterwards was found dead in his crib. 



On the 23rd of January of this year I visited the badgers' 

 stronghold, and found that the gamekeepers had, in anticipa- 

 tion of a visit from the Linlithgowshire Hunt, closed all the 

 entrances to the burrow to prevent foxes seeking earth there. 

 The badgers I saw had made use of a " pop " hole to escape 

 from imprisonment. On going back a week later I found two 

 of the entrances open. On this occasion there was snow on 

 the ground, and I was able to trace the footmarks of the 

 badgers a good distance through the woods. And here I 

 would like to mention that the generally accredited theory 

 that the badger lies dormant during the winter does not seem 



