THE BADGER. 183 



A badger-warren can always be recognised as 

 such by the litter of bedding that strews the earths 

 and the runways ; while if there are badgers in the 

 district they generally advertise the fact by rooting 

 up the ground, in the same way as a family of 

 little pigs. If the earth is nosed away round the 

 trunks of fir or pine trees, so as to explore the bark 

 below ground-level, it is assuredly the work of 

 badgers, this being one of the most certain tell- 

 tale signs they leave. Perhaps some grub to which 

 they are very partial exists round the trunks of 

 these trees ; or it may be that insects, particularly 

 wood-lice, follow the trunk of the tree and seek 

 hiding and shelter just below the earth -line, where 

 they are easily nosed out by the badger. 



A trick which I have tried with success, when 

 in doubt as to whether or not badgers were in a 

 certain locality, is to bury a few raisins two or 

 three inches underground near to the suspected 

 spot. The keen nose of the badger is sure to 

 locate these dainties, and he will root them out 

 when next he sallies forth on his nocturnal 

 wanderings. 



The foregoing will serve to show that there is 

 much to rouse our sympathies in the character of 

 this quiet dweller of the forest shadows, and it is 

 sincerely to be hoped that such sympathies may 

 prove instrumental in relieving this ancient and 

 much-persecuted creature of some of the miseries 

 that have so long and so unjustly been its lot. 

 One sees in the badger a brave, indigenous beast 

 struggling to retain a footing in the land of its 

 heritage against the cruelty and ignorance of those 

 who still seem to regard it as designed for the 

 ' sport ' of man. The badger was once diurnal to 

 almost the same extent as it was nocturnal. Where 



