THE BADGER 



rare in my experience. In no sense, there- 

 fore, is the badger soHtary. Indeed I have 

 actually known myself several instances of 

 a badger and fox living in apparent amity 

 in the same earth, whilst I hardly ever saw a 

 badger "earth" that was not either itself or 

 the immediate vicinity tenanted by rabbits. 

 As to the consistency of any friendship that 

 exists between badgers and foxes and rabbits, 

 I shall have more to say later on. I have, 

 however, taken a badger and rabbit out of 

 the same hole lying side by side. The 

 badger is said to be the protector of the 

 rabbit. He does not altogether deserve 

 this title, and the rabbit enjoys the immunity 

 in a badger's earth chiefly from the fact that 

 the badger cannot follow it in the smaller 

 holes without dio-g-ino- an effort which in 

 his estimation is, as a rule, not worth the 

 candle. 



Buffon dwells on the cleanliness of the 

 badger. He certainly is not the stinking 

 animal he is accused of being-. His house 

 and himself are as a rule bright and cleanly 

 looking, and it is only when in confineinent, 



52 



