84 O'er Crag and Torrent 



with one of their own kith and kin ; and 

 one has only to notice their demonstrations 

 of pleasure when in the proximity of a 

 badger's earth to feel assured that they 

 enjoy the excitement equally as much as a 

 healthy young fellow does a keenly contested 

 game of football. 



As I mentioned in my previous chapter, 

 plucky, reliable terriers are a sine qua non, 

 and essential to success in trenching for 

 badgers, for they have to enter the earth 

 and follow the run or runs until they find, 

 and when they find must communicate the 

 fact by " giving tongue." Many people 

 imagine that the terrier, the moment he 

 gets up to the badger, enters into a 

 sanguinary and deadly conflict with it, but 

 this is an utterly erroneous idea ; a terrier 

 that would "tackle" in such a manner would 

 not be "worth his salt " for trenching work. 

 The duties of the terrier are first, by 



