BADGERS. 57 



nn infinity of large black snails and worms, on which 

 the badgers were feeding with good appetite. As I was 

 dressed in grey, and sitting on a grey rock, they did 

 not see me, but waddled about, sometimes close to me ; 

 only now and then, as they crossed my track, they 

 showed a slight uneasiness, smelling the ground, and 

 grunting gently. Pre k sently a very large one, which 

 I took to be the mother of the rest, stood motionless 

 for a moment, listening with great attention, and then 

 giving a loud grunt, which seemed perfectly understood 

 by the others, she scuttled away, followed by the whole 

 lot. I was soon joined by my attendant, whose approach 

 they had heard long before my less acute ears gave me 

 warning of his coming. . . When caught in traps, they 

 [badgers] never leave part of their food behind them 

 and so escape, as foxes and other vermin frequently do; 

 but they display very great strength and dexterity in 

 drawing up the peg of the trap, and this done, they will 

 carry off the heaviest trap to an amazing distance, over 

 rock or heather. They never attempt to enter their hole 

 with a trap dangling to their foot, but generally lay 

 up in some furze bush or thicket. 



' When first caught, their efforts to escape show a 

 degree of strength and ingenuity which is quite won- 

 derful, digging and tearing at their prison with the 

 strength of a rhinoceros. I one day found a badger, 

 not much hurt, in a trap. Tying a rope to his hind- 

 leg, I drove him home before me as a man drives a pig, 

 but with much less trouble, for he made no attempts 

 to escape, but trotted quietly ahead, only occasionally 

 showing a natural inclination to bolt off the main path 

 whenever he passed any diverging road, all of which 

 were probably familiar haunts of the unlucky beast. 



