THE BADGER 



The badger is not by nature a ferocious 

 animal, though the female will repel with 

 the greatest savagery any approach when 

 she has young, but so will a hen with 

 chickens. The temperament of the badger 

 is a gentle, shrinking one. No animal pre- 

 fers a more quiet life, loving a warm bed 

 in a dry dark corner of earth or rocks. He 

 loves to sleep and meditate in peace for the 

 greater part of the twenty-four hours. He 

 lies not far within his entrance hall during 

 the spring and summer, and on a hot day 

 he will sometimes come to the mouth of his 

 hole. In the evening, in June or July, he 

 will come outside, sit looking into the wood 

 or shuffle round the bushes, stretch himself 

 against the tree-stems, or have a clumsy 

 romp with his wife and little ones ; and when 

 the daylight dies he will hurry off, rushing 

 through the covert for his nightly ramble. 

 In the summer months he will travel as far 

 as six miles from home, but he is in bed 

 again an hour before sunrise. 



It is only at this time of the year that he 

 can be hunted above ground. This can be 

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