The Hunting Year 



and he went a few times himself to the earth to 

 make sure. A visit after a shower of rain 

 showed him plenty of badger's prints, but 

 no fox's, and then he saw what had taken 

 place. 



There are, I believe, cases on record in which 

 foxes and badgers have occupied the same set 

 of earths, living if not exactly on friendly terms, 

 yet at any rate, tolerating each other. But for 

 all that, I am inclined to think that the reason 

 why our keeper friend had no litters of foxes 

 was that badgers were so much in evidence. 



It should be added that the badgers had a 

 rare larder, the legs of game birds, a rabbit or 

 two and part of a newly-dropped lamb, in a very 

 decayed state. 



Now I don't blame the keeper for making a 

 mistake in a case of this kind, for there is not 

 such a very great difference between the foot- 

 print of a fox and a badger. There is a differ- 

 ence which is at once apparent to the expert, 

 but the footprints of badgers are not very com- 

 mon, though there are more badgers in the 

 country than is generally thought. And it must 



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