PART II 



THE badger (Meles taxns, or Ursus 

 meles] is known under various aliases, viz. 

 the Brock (Danish Broc, Erse Broc, Welsh 

 Brock), the Pate, and the Grey. Of these 

 the Brock is perhaps the commonest, and is 

 the name most used in the north of England. 

 There is an expression common in the north 

 that would lead the ignorant to believe that 

 a badger perspires, or sweats, viz. " sweating 

 like a brock." In Yorkshire I often hear a 

 man say, " Ah sweats like a brock," and the 

 user of this elegant metaphor innocently 

 imagines he is perspiring like a badger. But 

 " brock " is the old north-country word for the 

 insect known as " cuckoo-spit " (Aphrophora 

 spumaria), which covers itself in the larval 

 state with froth and foam (cf. Welsh brock, 



