THE BADGER 



defend the general character of a fox in 



regard to game. Still it may be taken that 



a badger, though occasionally eating rabbits 



and rarely eggs, does not hunt for game, 



ground or feathered, or do a hundredth part 



of the damage done by a fox or a cat. There 



have always been more rabbits, hares, and 



pheasants in a hollow near my house, where 



there is a large colony of badgers, than in 



any other part of the coverts. The badger 



has a special weakness for wild honey, and 



the grubs of wasps and humble bees. The 



wildest and most unconciliatory badgers I 



have ever had in confinement would come 



out and eat a wasp's nest, and they will hunt 



every bank and hedgerow in July and August, 



routing out every wasp's and hornet's nest in 



the country-side. A keeper told me that 



upon one occasion, when he was walking 



along the covert edges in summer-time about 



nine o'clock in the evening, his attention was 



arrested by a curious chapping, champing 



noise, and looking over the fence he saw an 



old badger with his head in a huge wasp's 



nest hanging in a bramble bush, and he was 



64 



