ground dwellers and so comparatively safe from their attacks as 

 well as provided with abundant food from their number. With his 

 short, but extremely strong front limbs and his big curved claws he 

 can make his way into any of their holes faster than they can hope 

 to escape and lives at his ease upon the prairie dogs, ground squirrels 

 and field mice he thus unearths. Nor does he at all scorn still 

 smaller fare, such as beetles, grasshoppers, snails or worms, while 

 wild bees and wasps are an especial dainty, to whose vain stings his 

 long dense hair and thick hide offer an impenetrable shield. 



For his own home he must tunnel out a much larger space than 

 that occupied by most of his neighbors, which, to be sure, may betray 

 him to the trapper by its difference in size, but also, at least in 

 earlier days when whole tribes of badgers lived near together in 

 sandy soil, has proved treacherous footing for many an unwary 

 traveler. Inside of the burrow will be made a carefully lined nest 

 of dried grass, and here, too, will be stored a quantity of dried grass 



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