Class I. BADGER. 101 



sects and froa;s are its food : it is charged with 

 destroying lambs and rabbets, but on enquiry, 

 there seems to be no other reason to think it a 

 beast of prey, than from the analogy there is be- 

 tween its teeth and those of carnivorous ani- 

 mals. Nature denied the badger the speed and 

 activity requisite to escape its enemies, so hath 

 supplied it with such weapons of offence that 

 scarcely any creature would hazard attacking 

 it; few animals defend themselves better, or 

 bite harder : when pursued, they soon come to 

 bay, and fight wdth great obstinacy. It is 

 indolent, and sleeps much, for which reason 

 it is always found very fat. It burrows un- 

 der ground, like the fox, and forms several 

 different apartments, though with only one en- 

 trance, carrying, in its mouth, grass in order to 

 form a bed for its young. It confine^- itself to v/ 

 its hole during the wdiole day, feeding only at 

 night : it is so cleanly an animal as never to 

 obey the calls of nature in its apartments, but 

 goes out for that purpose : it breeds only once 

 in a year, and brings four or five at a time. .. 



The usual length of the badger, is two feet six Descrip- 

 inches, exclusive of the tail, which is but six ^^^^' 

 inches long: the weight is fifteen pounds. The 

 eyes are very small; the ears short and round- 

 ed; the neck short; the whole shape of the 



