THE BADGER 



back together, and by their united efforts 

 drew and killed an old badger ! There is a 

 spot near this place in the forest called 

 Stra-na-brach — or the badger's crag — but the 

 badger knows the place no more. The 

 keeper has done his work with the trap 

 throughout Aberdeenshire. 



Dandie Dinmont no doubt bred his dogs 

 from these terriers, but I have no belief that 

 the present race is fitted for badger-hunting. 

 Those one sees on a show bench are too 

 large to get to ground quickly and easily, and 

 I doubt if there is one of the race, as at 

 present known, that has ever exchanged 

 civilities with the badger in his natural earth. 

 Dandie Dinmont bred his terriers for badgers, 

 but I am sure his never were the size they 

 are now ; and although Sir Walter Scott has 

 surrounded Dandie with a halo of interest, 

 and made him immortal by his eulogies, his 

 fiendish cruelties have always made me hate 

 his name, and prejudiced me against a breed 

 that was developed under a hideous system. 

 It makes my blood boil to read of his terriers 

 trained to face the badger by taking alive 



