THE WEASEL FAMILY. 187 



frogs, cockchafer grubs, earth worms, insects, 

 also turnips, carrots, acorns, and sweet fruits. 

 Although the badger is both harmful and useful, 

 it is said to be more useful to the agriculturalist 

 than harmful. It possesses great digging power, 

 and in this respect is destructive, for it throws 

 up young trees and plants by the roots. 

 Although the badger does not hibernate, that is, 

 does not sleep through the winter, in cold 

 weather it sleeps for several days in succession, 

 living on its own fat which it has stored up 

 during its days of plenty. 



Insect-eating Animals. 



(l) Shrews. These are small animals, in 

 appearance something like mice, with slender 

 soft-haired bodies, small eyes, and tolerably 

 long thickly-haired tails. They are tremendous 

 eaters, eating daily, it is said, more than their own 

 weight of food, and destroying an enormous 

 quantity of underground vermin. The common 

 or lesser shrew is only about 2 inches long and 

 kills in the cornfields, gardens, and woodlands 

 a great quantity of noxious insects, together with 

 their larvae, as well as snails and worms. There- 

 fore don't kill the shrew. 



Mole. You all know the mole with its thick 

 black shining body, short legs, and with forelegs 

 broad and spade like, with its broad digging 



