26 WOODLAND CREATURES 



are also very fond of " bumble "-bees' honey, 

 and these insects receive scant mercy from them. 

 With their keen noses they search out the 

 nests that lie hidden among the herbage, and 

 then make short work of the contents, for they 

 care nothing for what the bees may do ; that fur 

 coat and thick hide which was impervious to the 

 stings of the energetic wasps is even more efficient 

 as a defence against the less active humble-bees. 

 One day I found a bees' nest, belonging to a species 

 that heaps shredded leaves over its pile of cells, 

 that had been raided overnight, but the badgers 

 had left one or two cells uneaten, and these the 

 surviving bees were at work upon. Within a 

 day or two the plucky insects had reconstructed 

 their home, but alas ! three weeks later the 

 badger revisited the spot, and this time left 

 nothing ! 



Badgers also eat a goodly number of beetles, 

 as one may judge from the wing-cases you see 

 in their droppings. My cubs, moreover, were 

 partial to earth-worms, and I cannot doubt that 

 a badger will eat almost anything that comes 

 in its way. They certainly dig out and devour 

 any nestfuls of young rabbits that they may 

 chance to sniff out, but in most districts this 

 is a point rather in their favour than otherwise. 

 Keepers, of course, assert that they do great 

 damage to game, and I do not doubt that a badger 

 would demolish eggs if it chanced across them, 

 but in a district where game is plentiful, and 

 badgers numerous, I have never met with an 



