26 THE BADGER 



which, being interpreted into Mercian speech, would 

 run : ' Look ye, lads ! Worry's the one to pick the life 

 out of 'em.' 



Well, leaving Mr. Pease to settle with the Humani- 

 tarian League the ethics of badger-hunting, a word of 

 praise must be given to his notes on the habits and 

 food of an animal hitherto obscurely understood. A 

 keen preserver of both game and foxes, he acquits the 

 badger of any serious detriment to the first, though it 

 cannot resist a nest of young rabbits, to which it 

 delights to dig down, and proves that the crime of 

 crunching the heads of fox cubs attributed to the 

 badger is really the work of a depraved old dog fox. 

 Mr. Pease discredits Mr. Vyner's statement in Notitia 

 Venatica about the extraordinary period of gestation in 

 badgers, a statement only made on hearsay. His own 

 observations, which are worth any amount of theory 

 and second-hand information, tend to fixing nine 

 weeks, instead of twelve months, as the period of 

 pregnancy. 



This brings me to the only fault I have to find with 

 Mr. Pease the somewhat unworthy slights he puts on 

 men of science. Here is one instance : 



' A man who is not able to tell you everything, as these 

 learned men do, about every living creature may from a 

 country life and experience be able to correct some errors.' 



Precisely ; and warmly will men of science welcome 

 the observations of Mr. Pease, who has made good use 

 of opportunities denied to them, and watched badgers 



