THE BADGER, AND HOW HE IS HUNTED. 57 



probably considers it policy to come out and have it 

 over. Moreover, if its mouth were examined it would 

 probably be found that its formidable canine teeth had 

 been cut short off. Besides, the barrel, in which the 

 dog can get alongside its quarry, bears no resemblance 

 to the deep and narrow hole in which the wild badger 

 is found. There he often lies on a sort of shelf close 

 to a sharp turn in the hole, so that his adversary, if he 

 has the courage to force himself in, can be readily 

 seized before the dog has any chance at all to use his 

 weapons of offence. 



No ; I maintain that the dog which will enter the 

 earth of a wild badger and fairly draw him i.e., drag 

 him to the light of day is a fictitious and imaginary 

 animal. It is true that within a week of penning these 

 lines, my dachshunds (German bred ones, the English 

 bred are useless underground) did bring a badger so far 

 out that I was able to put a charge of buckshot into 

 him, when he bolted and met his end after a terrific 

 worry. The case was altogether an exceptional one. 

 The badger was surprised, I fancy, in a new earth 

 which he was in the act of enlarging, and the dogs got 

 him out, not by holding him, but by going for him 

 occasionally and then retiring, which so irritated him 

 that he finally rushed headlong on his fate. This is 

 the only time I have ever seen a wild badger come to 

 the light of day, but it is easy to judge from the sounds 

 of subterranean war that the badger makes frequent 

 charges upon his foes, and, to judge from the resulting 

 yells of pain, not without effect. 



One clear proof of what I urge may be found in 



