CHAP. THIRTY-ONE THE BADGER 



AMONGST the aboriginal inhabitants of our 

 wilder districts, who are likely to be soon ex- 

 tirpated, we may reckon that ancient, peace- 

 able, and respectable quadruped, the badger; 

 of an ancient family he certainly is — the fossil remains 

 which have been found, prove his race to have been co- 

 existent with that of the mammoths and megatheriums 

 which oncewandered over our islands.Though the elk and 

 beaver have long since ceased to exist amongst us, our 

 friend the brock still continues to burrow in thesolitaryand 

 unfrequent recesses of our larger woods. Persevering and 

 enduring in his every-day life, he appears to have been 

 equally so, in clinging to existence during the numerous 

 changes which have passed over the face of the globe since 

 the first introduction of his familyinto it. Notwithstanding 

 the persecutions and indignities that he is unjustlydoomed 

 to suffer, I maintain that he is far more respectable in his 

 habits than we generally consider him to be. "Dirty as a 

 badger," "stinking as a badger," are two sayings often re- 

 peated, but quite inapplicable to him. As far as we can learn 

 of the domestic economy of this animal when in a state of 

 nature, he is remarkable for his cleanliness — his extensive 

 burrows are always kept perfectly clean, and free from all 

 offensive smell; no filth is ever found about his abode; 

 everything likely to offend his olfactory nerves is carefully 

 removed. I, once, in the north of Scotland, fell in with a 

 perfect colony of badgers; they had taken up their abode 

 in an unfrequented range of wooded rocks, and appeared 

 to have been little interrupted in their possession of them. 

 The foot-paths to and from their numerous holes were 

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