THE BADGER 



whelming, considering the number of badgers 

 that are in confinement. I have had many 

 in confinement for long periods, and have 

 never known them to give any evidence in 

 support of this theory. I have kept a pair 

 for a long period, but, like many other wild 

 animals in confinement, they never bred. 

 All sorts of theories exist as to the period 

 of gestation in badgers, but I think I shall 

 be very near the mark when I say that they 

 go with young about nine weeks, and I con- 

 ceive that the mistake made by those who 

 have thought that they go over a year is 

 due to the fact, which I have noticed, that 

 a pair of badgers do not breed every year. 

 I cannot decide whether there is any precise 

 rule, but am inclined to think that they breed 

 once every two years. There are so many 

 accounts of single badgers kept in confinement 

 bringing forth young after a much longer 

 period of gestation that it appears possible 

 that the female has the power known to be 

 possessed by the Roe-deer doe of postponing 

 the operation of parturition for a considerable 

 time. 



55 



