SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 233 



food out of the earth, as well as dig his hole into 

 it. On passing by hedge-rows or banks in the 

 fields, not very far distant from his home, the 

 claw-work of the badger is manifested by sundry 

 routings after roots, and dumbledore nests, of 

 which they are particularly fond. Keepers give 

 them bad names, that they may be allowed to 

 destroy or catch them for the purpose of that 

 most cruel and barbarous of all amusements, 

 badger-baiting, which, although forbidden by law, 

 under Mr. Martin's act, is nevertheless carried on 

 in what is called " sporting houses/' The badger, 

 like the fox, prowls about at night in search of 

 food, but he does not, like the fox, ever venture 

 far from the covert-side, and although acquitting 

 him of bloodthirstiness, they will commit depre- 

 dations on the farmers' produce of peas and beans 

 during the summer and autumn months ; but when 

 winter sets in they retire, like the dormouse, to 

 some warm shelter under the earth, where they 

 remain in a half-torpid state, seldom venturing 

 from their comfortable nests of reeds and grass 

 collected in the summer, unless forced out by 

 hunger. 



Oliver Goldsmith, in his description of the badger, 

 calls it, " like the fox, a carnivorous animal, and 

 nothing that has life comes amiss to it. It sleeps 

 the greatest part of its time ; and thus, without being 

 a voracious feeder, it still keeps fat, particularly in 

 winter/' There is also another assertion of his, 

 which carries refutation on the face of it, that 



