58 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



When at home, I put him into a paved court, where I 

 thought he could not possibly escape. The next morn- 

 ing, however, he was gone, having displaced a stone 

 that I thought him quite incapable of moving, and then 

 digging under a wall. . . . Sometimes I have known a 

 badger leave the solitude of the woods and take to 

 some drain in the cultivated country, where he becomes 

 very bold and destructive to the crops, cutting down 

 wheat, and ravaging the gardens in a most surprising 

 manner. One which I know to be now living in this 

 manner, derives great part of his food during the spring 

 from a rookery under which he nightly hunts, feeding on 

 the young rooks that fall from their nests, or on the old 

 ones that are shot. This badger eludes every attempt 

 to trap him. Having more than once run narrow risks 

 of this nature, he has become so cunning that no one can 

 catch him. If a dozen baited traps are set, he manages 

 to carry off the baits, and spring every trap, always with 

 total impunity to himself. At one time he was watched 

 out to some distance from his drain, and traps were 

 then put in all directions round it ; but by jumping over 

 some, and rolling over others, he escaped all. In fact, 

 though a despised and maltreated animal, when he has 

 once acquired a certain experience in worldly matters, 

 few beasts show more address and cunning in keeping 

 out of scrapes. Though eaten in France, Germany, and 

 other countries, and pronounced to make excellent hams, 

 we in Britain despise him as food, though I see no 

 reason why he should not be quite as good as any pork. 

 4 The badger becomes immensely fat. Though not a 

 great eater, his quiet habits and his being a great sleeper 

 prevent his being lean.' That sleep is taken in the day, 

 for his habits, are generally nocturnal. 



