THE BADGER. 5 



OEDER III.— EEEoE. 



The Badgek, 3Ieles taxus, Flem., 



Still maintains its ground throughout the island, perhaps in every 

 county. 



Templeton mentioned it as "nearly extinct" — a remark, no doubt, 

 made correctly in reference to certain localities where he had previously 

 known it to occur. But I have been surprised to find the tenacity with 

 which it still clings to old haunts, even amidst encroaching cultivation, 

 and where the surrounding districts have become more populous. So re- 

 cently as the year 1844 I have been assured of the existence of this spe- 

 cies within four miles of the town of Belfast, on each side of the bay ; and 

 in the year 1845 I saw four out of five specimens obtained at Florida, in 

 the County of Down, one of which (an old female) weighed 25 lbs. 



A sporting friend informs me, that when he was fox-hunting, some 

 years ago, at Mountainstown (County Meath), two badgers were killed 

 by the hounds, in a cover. 



With reference to the food of this animal, I may mention that several 

 of my correspondents have supplied me with proofs of its carnivorous 

 propensities. One gentleman, who kept a young badger in confinement, 

 reports that it was very fond of rats, mice, and birds, and that it devoured 

 a pet blackbird which he highly prized. At Tollymore Park (County of 

 Down), and Glenarm Park (County of Antrim), where badgers are numer- 

 ous, they are sometimes taken in traps baited with rabbits ; and I was 

 informed by a gamekeeper, at the latter place, that they are destructive 

 to young rabbits in the nest, and, in such cases, do not make use of the 

 rabbits' entrance, but delve out a circular hole immediately above the 

 nest. From the peculiar foot-print of the badgers, always to be seen 

 about these holes, he knew that they were the depredators. 



I have also heard of the skulls of sheep (supposed to have perished in 

 the mountains) and the bones of birds being found abundantly in rocky 

 places where badgers were located, and where foxes did not exist. 



In 1848, Dr. Fleming mentioned to me that a badger which he kept 

 was omnivorous ; in addition to other luxuries, it sucked eggs and ate 

 young birds. An experienced gamekeeper states, as the result of his ob- 

 servation, that this species lives chiefly on insects and the roots of plants, 

 but that it is also partial to the refuse of foxes' earths. 



A full and excellent account of the badger will be found in St. John's 

 Wild Sports, &c., chap. xxxi. 



Pennant remarks, that " Naturalists once distinguished the badger by 

 the name of the swine-badger and the dog-badger, from the supposed i-e- 

 semblance of their heads to those animals, and so divided them into two 

 species ; but the most accurate observers have been able to discover only 

 one kind — that whose head and nose resemble those of the dog." 



Dr. 11. Ball informs me, that in some parts of the South of Ireland the 

 distinction of dog and jng badger is still retained. 



The Otter, Lutra vulgaris, Erxleb, 



Is still found in such localities throughout Ireland and along the coasts 

 as it can inhabit, in spite of man. 



These retreats are so numerous that it is unnecessary to enter into de- 

 tail. Sea-caves and holes among the rocks are resorted to by the otter, 

 along the northern coast, where tliere is no river in the neighbourhood ; 



