14 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



The Badger makes a most gloomy, dark, and tortuous burrow, 

 generally excavated in some retired and shadowy spot, such as 

 dense thickets, or the recesses of thickly-wooded forests. As 

 is the case with several burrowing animals, there are several 

 chambers in its domicile, one of which is appropriated as a 

 nursery, and is warmly padded with dry mosses and grass. 



The Badger is a creature that cannot live in close proximity 

 to human beings, and has, in consequence, been gradually 

 banished from the greater part of England. Forest after forest 

 falls before the woodman's axe, mile upon mile of barren bog- 

 land is drained and converted into fertile, food -producing soilj 

 and so, to the very great satisfaction of the political economist, 

 and the very great discomfiture of the naturalist, all our large 

 carnivora, whether furred or feathered, are gradually ousted 

 from the soil whereon they formerly exercised unquestioned 

 sway. The Badger has long ago been driven out of the land ; 

 the otter is but seldom seen in the rivers where it was once so 

 plentiful ; the polecat and martens have retired into the deepest 

 recesses of the few forests which are still left to us, but over 

 which the demon of bricks and mortar already casts an evil 

 eye ; and the stoat and weasel only hold their own on account 

 of their diminutive size, and the comparative ease with which 

 they obtain a supply of food. They are among the animals 

 which are gradually eliminated out of existence by the en- 

 croachments of man, and it may be that in a few years a stoat 

 or weasel may be as rare in England as a Badger is at the 

 present day. 



The exact classification of animal habitations involves a task 

 not easily accomplished, inasmuch as so many of them partake 

 of characteristics which might entitle them to be placed under 

 various categories. The rabbit, for example, might be considered 

 either as a social or a burrowing animal, and the same may be 

 said of the common wasp, the humble bee, and many other 

 insects. 



The Prairie Dog {Spermophilus Ludovicianus) may, like 

 the rabbit, be considered equally as a burrower or a social 



