THE BADGER 



679 



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active, vivacious animal, who starts from liarvesting looks as if a herd of pigs 

 his burrow before dark (" set " and had been rooting there. I have known a 

 "earth" are the sporting terms for a case where the distance from the collecting 

 Badger's excavations, " set " perhaps the ground to the hole was about two hundred 



yards, t h r o u g ii 

 dense laurels down 

 a hill side. They 

 always drop a 

 great deal on 

 the way, and the 

 nest takes about 

 a week to make. 

 I have put straw 

 or shavings at the 

 mouth of the bur- 

 row, and t ii e y 

 have always taken 

 it in if it is dry, 

 but not otherwise. 

 Once I made fast a 

 string to a bundle 

 of hay and pulled 

 it up after they 

 had taken the hay 

 down. They had 

 run out about 

 fourteen yards of 

 string — but that is not long for an earth. 

 There is one on the Courtown Estate (Co. 

 Wexford) which is at least a hundred yards 

 long, but I suspect that this is connected 

 with an old drain. At one time all the 

 Badgers at Courtown were exterminated, 

 but in a few 3'ears the burrows were 

 again occupied. Xine Badgers were killed 

 on one estate in Kilkenny in 1907. 

 They used to be very common there, 

 and on one occasion one of the famUy 

 looked out of the window at midnight 

 and saw three Badgers just outside the 

 liall door. They used to dig up any 

 crocus, tulip, and snowdrop bulbs which 

 were planted round the house, but they 

 never touched daffodil, bluebell, or 

 hvacinth. I think tliat the slimy juice 

 in the latter's shoots deterred them." 



The fresh nest which Badgers construct 

 in September is designed for winter 

 quarters. As the cold approaches 

 Badgers get more and more sluggish, 

 leave their burrows later, and return to 

 them earlier, until, by the time mid-winter 

 is reached, thev willoften remain without 

 food for davs.'and are only tempted out 

 by extremely genial and unseasonable 

 conditions. From mid-winter onwards 



set 

 more sporting of 

 the two) . often 

 wanders some 

 miles afield, and 

 does not dream of 

 going home till 

 morning. This is 

 the pairing season 

 — and the season 

 of high li\'ing. 

 Badgers eat almost 

 anything — beetles 

 in all stages, honey, 

 bee and wasp 

 grubs, 3' o u n g 

 moles, young rab- 

 bits, and small ver- 

 tebrates in general, 

 grass, bulbs, leaves, 

 and roots. Miss 

 Maud Haviland, 

 to whom I am much 

 indebted both for 

 corroboration of my own 

 Badgers, and for permission 

 some interesting and original 

 tions of her own, tells me 

 markable fondness which they 

 arum roots. Though the 

 under judicious treatment 

 " Portland Sago " of commerce, the human 

 being who essays to sample raw any por- 

 tion of this plant will regret his temerity. 

 Its poison, even in very minute doses, 

 has a parah'sing effect on the tongue and 

 throat, which endures for a considerable 

 time. The immunity which many ani- 

 mals enjoy in respect of certain vegetable, 

 and even mineral poisons, whose action 

 is dangerous in the case of human beings, 

 is extremely curious, and would well 

 repay investigation. 



Towards the September equinox 

 Badgers thoroughly clean out and re- 

 litter their burrows. I have never been 

 fortunate enough to witness this opera- 

 tion, and I am again indebted to Miss 

 Haviland, who in a recent letter to me 

 describes the process as follows : " They 

 twist up moss and dead grass in balls, 

 and drag it in quantities into the burrow, 

 so that a glade where they have been 



THE ARTICULATION OF THE BADGER'S 

 MANDIBLE. 



A. The condyle fitting into the glenoid cavity. 



B. The coronoid process of the mandible. 



C. The angular process. 



The transverse measurement of the condyle is about seven- 

 eighths of an inch, and the articulation admits of an up 

 and down movement of the lower jaw through about 

 40 degrees, and a lateral displacement through about 

 an eighth of an inch. The front border of the glenoid 

 cavity overlaps the condyle on the outer half, and the 

 hind border (not visible in the picture) on the inner 

 half. Dislocation without fracture is impossible. 



notes on 

 to quote 

 observa- 

 of a re- 

 have for 

 arum root 

 becomes the 



