66 SHOOTING LARGE GAME. 



little credit him. The scent which he leaves behind him is, how- 

 ever, breast high, and before many minutes the foremost dogs over- 

 take him. Then may it be seen with what undaunted pluck and 

 tenacity the hunted badger fights for his life. He is seized perhaps 

 by a fox-hound who has never tackled a badger before, but the cast- 

 iron jaws of the quarry imprint a mark which sends the assailant 

 hopping away on three legs, and making the night vocal with his 

 howls. The rough terriers close in their turn with the enemy, and 

 issue shortly from the fray sorely the worse for the encounter. At 

 length a couple of old and experienced hounds make a concerted 

 attack, and the hotly-beset but indomitable animal yields up the 

 ghost, without a single cry of pain or a symptom of cowardice, 

 fighting grimly to the end. 



This harmless and roughly-treated animal lives by day at the 

 bottom of deep burrows, where he sleeps away his time upon a very 

 comfortable bed of hay and grass, until the evening approaches, 

 when he arises and goes forth in search of food. He supports him- 

 self chiefly on roots, grass, fruit, and slugs, with an occasional 

 young rabbit for an appetizing morsel. When undisturbed by his 

 mortal enemy, man, he is one of the merriest of animals, seeing that 

 he has little to dread from any fellow quadruped or bird of prey. 

 His terrific bite, as sharp and tenacious as a steel-trap, secures him 

 from molestation, and when, being like all bears fond of honey, he 

 plunders a wild bees' nest, the stings of its enraged occupants pro- 

 duce no sort of effect upon his shaggy coat and thick skin. Perhaps 

 the badger is most in his glory at the mouth of his hole, or under 

 the root of a .tree, which protects his flanks and body up to the 

 shoulders from attack; for then woe betides the unwary dog which 

 attempts to draw him forcibly from his lair. His under teeth are so 

 planted, and the leverage of the lower jaw is so powerful, that, 

 when the mouth closes, nothing short of a stupendous effort on the 

 part of the gripped animal can unfix the grimly vigorous bite. 

 Simultaneously the badger's little eyes twinkle with apparent glee, 

 and his whole body writhes as it were with fun at the sensation that 

 he has got tight hold of his victim. At this critical moment men 

 who are aware of the creature's habits often step in to redress the 

 balance in favor of their dogs. The nose is the badger's vulnerable 

 point, and a smart tap upon it curls him up at once, and leaves him 

 at the mercy of his quadrupedal assailants. 



