230 NATURAL HISTORY. 



fourths of its existence, and never ventures forth but 

 in search of food. It burrows in the ground with 

 particular ease, as its body is rather of an oblong 

 form, and its claws, those especially of the fore feet, 

 are long and compact. The hole which it thus forms 

 to itself, is often at a very great distance from the sur- 

 face of the earth, and the passage to it is always ob- 

 lique and winding. 



The fox, who is less expert at such excavations, of- 

 ten appropriates to his own convenience the labours of 

 the badger. Unable to compel him from his retreat 

 by force, he often expels him by stratagem, often re- 

 mains a fixed centinel at the mouth of the passage, 

 and, as an infallible expedient, it is said, emits his or- 

 dure. When the badger has left it, he immediately 

 takes possession of it, enlarges it, and accommodates 

 it to his own purpose. Though forced to remove to 

 another habitation, this animal does not remove to ano- 

 ther country. At a little distance from its old bur- 

 row, it forms a new one, from which it never stirs 

 but at night. The dogs easily overtake it, when it 

 is at any distance from its hole ; and then, exerting 

 all its strength, all its powers of resistance, it throws 

 itself upon its back, and defends itself with desperate 

 resolution. 



Several badgers have been brought to me, and some 

 of them I kept a long time ; the young ones arc easily 

 tamed ; they will play with young dogs, and, like 

 them, will follow any person whom they know, and 

 and from whom they receive their food ; but the old 

 ones, in spite of every effort, still remain wild. They 

 are neither mischievous nor voracious, as the fox and 

 wolf are, yet they are carnivorous ; and though raw 

 meat is their favourite food, yet they will eat any 



