136 WILD ANIMALS WORTH STALKING 



animals vary so much. Some adults handled by 

 my gamekeeper friends did not go more than six- 

 teen pounds, while others have turned the scale 

 at forty pounds. The males, as a rule, are the 

 largest, but pairs have often been found where it 

 has been the reverse. 



The Badger is a most cleanly animal both in 

 person and about his home, for, unlike the Fox, he 

 will not tolerate filth to lie about his earth. He 

 is often house cleaning, as it were, by clearing out 

 soil that may have become tainted in any way. 

 He always deposits his excrement in little pits he 

 digs for the purpose some distance from home. 



The Badger is said to be very closely related to 

 the Bear, but in many respects he resembles the 

 Wild Boar too. He is carnivorous without doubt, 

 but I always look on him as more of an insec- 

 tivorous animal. His bill of fare consists of young 

 Rabbits, young birds. Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, 

 and nearly all kinds of insects to be found on the 

 land, as well as various roots, eggs, honey of the 

 Bumble Bee and Wasps' nests, wild fruits, in fact, 

 there is little that comes amiss to him in the small 

 way. I never knew him to kill anything larger 

 than a young Rabbit, so that from a game pre- 

 server's point of view he does no harm, and this is 

 a most important point to remember in view of 

 the animals that are sometimes killed. 



Some are of the opinion that he is torpid during 



