THE badgf:r 



possible, and the rest of our time was de- 

 voted to getting the terriers out, and making 

 as good a retreat as we could before the 

 victorious enemy. 



I should think this "set" was hundreds 

 of years old, and some of the passages, the 

 farmer told us, were a hundred yards long ! 

 As a rule a badger's hole descends rapidly 

 at first, and then may branch into any num- 

 ber of by-ways and subterranean galleries. 

 Whichever route you follow, however, you 

 invariably come to a chamber or " oven," 

 which is generally a sort of vaulted hall, 

 where four ways meet, and which is, or has 

 been, the living-room of the family at some 

 previous time. Where there is an old-estab- 

 lished " set " it is difficult to drive the badgers 

 permanently away from it. They may leave 

 it for a while from fancy, or because of dis- 

 turbance, but they will certainly return. 



The badger and his wife have a regular 

 spring cleaning after the winter is over, and 

 about March and April a cart-load of winter 

 bedding, rubbish, earth, and sweepings will 

 be thrown in a few nights outside the front 



47 



