THE BADGER 21 



fear that she showed during the first two or 

 three days, Diana quickly became tame she 

 soon found out that I was a friend, and would 

 follow me wherever I went ; but Jemima had 

 had another week of freedom, and nothing I could 

 do would quite allay her suspicions of the human 

 race, especially such people as she had not seen 

 before. When the cubs were caught they were 

 probably between six and eight weeks old, for 

 their teeth were well developed, and they could 

 eat anything that was given them. As I got 

 them early in May, this places their birth at the 

 beginning of March, which is about the usual 

 time for young badgers to arrive. I have known 

 of cubs being born at the beginning of February, 

 but this was unusually early. 1 



I was saying that my two cubs had well-grown 

 teeth, which at first they used freely, but this 

 undesirable habit was soon overcome, especially 

 in the case of Diana, who developed rapidly into 

 a most charming pet. She soon learnt to follow 

 as well as any of the dogs, and would go for quite 

 long walks, even through the woods, without 

 ever straying off or getting lost. When she 

 found she was being left behind she would cry 

 and whimper most piteously, so that I had to 

 wait for her to catch me up. Several times on 

 a summer evening I have heard exactly the same 

 baby outcry in the woods, and mingled with 



1 Mr. A. H. Cocks, in the Zoologist of 1904, showed that badger 

 cubs are invariably born between the middle of February and 

 the end of March. 



