162 URSIDJi. 



soon as the Badger hears their cr}', he makes for his 

 home with all speed, and runs into the sack, which closes 

 behind him by the tightening of the running string at its 

 mouth. Another method is by digging him out. This 

 phui, however, is always laborious, and often attended with 

 uncertain results, arising from obstacles in the shape of 

 large roots, stones, or from the position of the hole, 

 which is not unfrequently in the front of some steep 

 bank or cliff, in which situation the Badger could only 

 be reached by mining horizontally, a proceeding attended 

 with immense labour. Nevertheless, Badgers are fre- 

 quently taken by means of the spade, and we have often 

 conversed with men engaged in their capture^ in some 

 parts of Oxfordshire, where they are still common. In 

 the well-known, but now little worked, slate quarries of 

 Stonesfield, the Badger finds a stronghold from which it 

 would be difficult to dislodge him. The intricate pas- 

 sages and crevices in these excavations, while they furnish 

 to this animal a commodious retreat, afford also an effi- 

 cient means of defence against the entrance of dogs, 

 which in their attempts to dislodge the Badger, often get 

 fixed between the stones, and perish. There are other 

 places also in the same neighbourhood, and in the ad- 

 joining Gloucestershire or Cottesvvold Hills, where the 

 Badger is still found, as in the forest of Wichwood, in 

 Ditchley Park and woods, at Oddington, Addlestrop, 

 and at Daylesford, in the park planted by Warren Hast- 

 ings. Temple Guiting, Seizencote, and Chipping Camp- 

 den are other localities in the vicinity of which the 

 Badsrer occurs. We have been careful to enumerate the 

 above localities, as we think that in some of them these 

 animals have rather increased than diminished in numbers 

 within the last few years, a fact which is certainly rather 

 remarkable, when we consider the large size of the 



