THE BADGER. 117 



abroad only for a short period in the evening or night 

 to seek its food, consisting indifferently of various roots, 

 earth-nuts, beech-mast, fruits, the eggs of birds, some 

 of the smaller quadrupeds, frogs, and insects. 



The time for preparing to catch badgers is night, 

 when they are abroad in pursuit of food. For this pur- 

 pose, sacks are fastened into the mouth of their burrows 

 in the ground, and the animals are then hunted home 

 from the neighbouring fields by dogs. On entering 

 their usual places of retreat, hoping to escape from their 

 foes, they are instantly seized, and tied up in sacks by 

 the men, who are ready to do so. Steel traps .are 

 sometimes placed in the haunts of badgers, and by this 

 means also they are caught. 



When taken young, the badger may be easily and 

 completely tamed. Of this, the eminent naturalist, Mr. 

 Bell, gives the following instance : " I had one for a 

 considerable time, which was sent to me by my valued 

 old friend, James Buckland, Esq., of Shaftesbury, who 

 had obtained it from a cottager in the neighbourhood, 

 whose children Mr. Buckland accidentally saw playing 

 with the badger as familiarly as they would with a puppy. 

 He found that the animal had been taken when very 

 ypung, and had been brought up as the playmate of the 

 children : it had, however, become rather too rough in 



