236 A Badger Colony in Dalmeny Park [Sess. 



to hold good, so far as my limited observation of these animals 

 goes. On the 14th of February the five entrances to the 

 burrow were all reopened, and there were signs of considerable 

 traffic. The quantity of brackens that had been trailed in 

 showed the breeding season at hand. Sunday, the 7th March, 

 showed more signs of traffic about the burrow than any 

 previous visit this year. The last visit I paid was on the 

 20th of this month (March), when there was a lot of fresh 

 sand thrown out, and as it was well padded with footprints 

 it showed the stronghold to be in a thriving condition. 

 I have never had the necessary enthusiasm to spend a 

 night in the woods to watch their outgoings and home- 

 comings, but possibly may try and do so this summer. 



No notice of the badger would be complete without re- 

 ferring to the ancient sport of badger - baiting. In some 

 old natural history books you will see a woodcut representing 

 a group of sportsmen clustered round a barrel in which can 

 be seen the figure of a badger grinning defiance at several 

 irate terriers, whose rustic owners, armed with pitchfork and 

 bludgeon, are stirring them on. This little picture speaks 

 more eloquently than words of the light in which the badger 

 was regarded in those days. From the Statistical Accounts of 

 Scotland we can learn that with the increasing development 

 of the country, and stricter views regarding the preservation 

 of game, the badger gradually disappeared from places in 

 which it formerly abounded, though it still managed to main- 

 tain a precarious existence in a few scattered strongholds, 

 such as are still to be found on the banks of the Tweed. 

 For a detailed account, however, of the history of the badger 

 in the Lothians I would refer you to * The Mammalian Fauna 

 of the Edinburgh District,' by Mr William Evans, published in 

 1892. It is a pleasure to think that some landed proprietors 

 now look with a more tolerant spirit on such animals as the 

 badger and the wild cat, and are even found extending pro- 

 tection to them where there are any left to protect. The days 

 of badger-baiting are now past, and we do not look upon it as 

 the mere victim for a cruel sport, but as one of the most 

 interesting of our British fauna, whose ancestors were in 

 existence while the bear and the wolf roamed through our 

 forests and the beaver haunted our streams. 



