20 WOODLAND CREATURES 



not forget in a hurry ! But the badger only acts 

 on the defensive : it is a most peaceable creature ; 

 it lives and lets live, and never goes out of its 

 way to assail others. This brings us back to 

 the meaning, if any, of its peculiar coloration. 

 I think the conspicuous markings serve as a 

 warning, but I must add that under certain con- 

 ditions they may help to hide the animal. At 

 first this seems impossible; one would expect the 

 badger under all circumstances to show up like 

 " a bar of soap in a coal-scuttle," but it should 

 be remembered that it is a strictly nocturnal 

 animal, and in a state of nature never ventures 

 out during the daytime, and that markings which 

 are very easily seen in the sunlight may have 

 quite a different effect by moonlight. This was 

 brought home to me when I was exercising a 

 tame badger one evening. I lost sight of 

 " Diana/' and could not see her anywhere. I 

 began to wonder where she had gone to, when 

 she moved, and I saw she had been close beside 

 me all the time, but in the fading light her 

 markings blended well with lights and shadows 

 in the bushes. 



Diana Muggins, to give her her full name, was 

 brought to me as quite a young cub by a keeper 

 who had trapped her at the mouth of the big sett 

 which has been described. A week later he 

 brought her sister, which cub received the title 

 of Jemima Muggins. How they got such names 

 I do not know; some one christened them, and 

 the names stuck. Having got over the abject 



