THE BADGER 



foam) vide Atkinson's Dictionary of the 

 Cleveland Dialect. In parts of Cornwall 

 and Wales the word " Grey " may be in 

 use, but I myself have only come across it in 

 books, more especially old ones. Though 

 able to boast these several titles, there is but 

 one species known in Europe, and in general 

 appearance he is the same animal, though 

 varying locally in size and shade of colour. 

 He has been classed as belonging to the 

 bear tribe, but the badger is really a single 

 species and a sub-genus in itself. The den- 

 tition of a badger is half tuberculous and half 

 carnivorous, and in this respect approaches 

 the martens. 



About few animals has there been more 

 nonsense written in regard to habits and 

 anatomy, and for many of the popular notions 

 concerning the badger there is no foundation 

 whatever. In the ancient books descriptive 

 of sport and wild animals we read that there 

 were in England two kinds of badger the 

 one as we know it, and the other a " pig- 

 badger," with cloven hoofs and other attri- 

 butes of the porker. It is astonishing how 



