BADGER. 133 



With reference to the carnivorous propensities of the Badger, 

 Thompson writes that " one gentleman, who kept a young 

 Badger in confinement, reports that it was very fond of Rats, 

 Mice, and birds, and that it devoured a pet Blackbird which he 

 highly prized. At Tollymore Park (County Down) and Glen- 

 arm (County Antrim), where Badgers are numerous, they are 

 sometimes taken in traps baited with Rabbits ; and I was in- 

 formed by a gamekeeper, at the latter place, that they are 

 destructive to young Rabbits in the nest, and, in such cases, 

 do not make use of the Rabbits' entrance, but delve out a 



Skull of Badger. 



circular hole immediately above the nest. From the peculiar 

 footprint of the Badgers, always to be seen about these holes, 

 he knows that they were the depredators." While admitting 

 the truth of this latter statement, and also that a Badger may 

 occasionally get hold of a sitting Pheasant, Mr. Harting con- 

 siders that the harm done by Badgers to game-preserves is 

 almost infinitesimal, Pheasants, except during the breeding- 

 season, bemg at roost in the trees, and the Rabbits feeding in 

 the open outside the coverts, at the time when these animals 

 leave their lairs for the nocturnal prowl. 



No account of this animal would be complete without some 

 mention of the sport of Badger-baiting, which, although now 



