38 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



The Weasels have been said to be great burrowers, but I am 

 inclined to think that very few of them are in the habit of tun- 

 neling below the ground. The Otter is generally thought to be 

 a burrower because it has certain caves in the river banks, to 

 which it flies for refuge when pursued, and in which it produces 

 and rears its young. But I believe that in every instance the 

 animal takes advantage of some ready-made cavity, mostly con- 

 tenting itself with accepting the retreat, and at the best, merely 

 scraping and adapting the spot to suit its own purposes. 



The Weasel is certainly no excavator. It takes up its habita. 

 tion in rocky crevices, under the gnarled roots of old trees, in the 

 interstices between stones, and similar localities, stone-heaps being 

 always favorite spots. Ladies who build their picturesque rock- 

 eries for the culture of ferns, would be very much surprised if 

 they knew how often the Weasel takes possession of the stones, 

 and how the interior of the mimic rock is tenanted by these 

 snake-necked, red-bodied, bright-eyed little creatures. Should 

 they perchance see a Weasel poking its intelligent little head out 

 of a crevice, they should not be alarmed, but do their best to en- 

 courage an animal so useful, a little ally that will do more toward 

 clearing the garden of mice and other nocturnal depredators than 

 all the ratcatchers in the neighborhood. 



One of the Weasel tribe is, however, a most powerful and in- 

 dustrious excavator. This is the Badger (Meles taxus), an animal 

 which was formerly considered as our only surviving British rep- 

 resentative of the bear tribe, but is now found to belong to the 

 weasels. 



The Badger makes a most gloomy, dark, and tortuous burrow, 

 generally excavated in some retired and shadowy spot, such as 

 dense thickets, or the recesses of thickly-wooded forests. As is 

 the case with several burrowing animals, there are several cham- 

 bers in its domicile, one of which is appropriated as a nursery, 

 and is warmly padded with dry mosses and grass. 



The Badger is an animal that can not live in close proximity 

 to human beings, and has, in consequence, been gradually ban- 

 ished from the greater part of England. Forest after forest falls 

 before the woodman's axe, mile upon mile of barren bog-land is 

 drained and converted into fertile, food-producing soil; and so, 

 to the very great satisfaction of the political economist, and the 

 very great discomfiture of the naturalist, all our large carnivora, 

 whether furred or feathered, are gradually ousted from the soil 



