THE BADGER. 171 



estates, and would willingly pay for the oppor- 

 tunity. Brock is worth more alive than dead. 



INTERCOMMUNICATION. 



Badgers, like bears, possess the habit of measur- 

 ing their full height against some obstacle which 

 affords exercise for their claws, and thither, to 

 the recognised scratching-post, the whole family 

 adjourns at more or less regular intervals to leave 

 the sign of their passing. One sees the claw- 

 marks of father and mother high up on the scale 

 of reach ; lower down are the claw-marks of the 

 cubs, each having registered its height ; and from 

 surrounding signs we should judge that this is a 

 recognised rendezvous of the family. 



There is every reason to think that these 

 scratching-places afford a system of intercommu- 

 nication for the badger population of a given 

 district, for I have noticed the claw-marks of 

 strange badgers on a tree-trunk habitually visited 

 by one family in a locality where badgers were 

 none too plentiful. For example, an old dog- 

 badger living alone has his own individual scratch- 

 ing-log, which he visits, perhaps, once every ten 

 days. Near to the log is a boulder of rock having 

 one sharp edge against which he invariably rubs 

 himself when calling. Another badger crosses the 

 range, and, guided by some subtle sense, it visits 

 this place. It registers its height against the 

 trunk, and scratches its neck on the other side 

 of the sharp edge of rock. The owner of the 

 rendezvous returns. He knows immediately that 

 another badger has been there. Whether he is 

 sufficiently astute to read if it is larger or smaller 

 than himself is, of course, open to question ; but, 

 at any rate, the main fact is instantly conveyed 



