164 URSIDiE. 



came into my possession, and soon became a great 

 favourite, showing, too, on its part, great attachment to 

 me and to the household. It followed me like a Dog, 

 yelping and barking with a peculiar sharp cry, when he 

 found himself shut out of the room in which I happened 

 to be sitting. He was accustomed to come into the 

 dining-room during dinner, of which he was generally 

 permitted to partake, and he always ate his morsels in a 

 very orderly manner. He was, in fact, an affectionate, 

 gentle, good-tempered fellow, and very cleanly withal. 

 He died of the disease which destroys so many carnivor- 

 ous animals when in a state of confinement — a stricture 

 of the pyloric opening of the stomach, by which the 

 passage of the food into the intestine is gradually in- 

 terrupted, and ultimately stopped."* 



The male and female Badger are rarely seen in com- 

 pany. It is probable that the sexes are directed to each 

 other by scent, and that the fetid secretion from the 

 glandular pouch under the tail is intended in this, as in 

 many other instances, to afford them traces of each other. 

 The female brings forth her young in the summer, to the 

 number of three or four in a litter. Her nest is formed 

 of moss and grass, and is prepared beforehand for the 

 reception of the young. 



The Badger, as we have already stated, is still found 

 in many parts of England, but is nowhere abundant, and 

 in some places has become a rare animal. It is a native 

 of almost every country in Europe, not excepting the 

 North. M. Nilsson includes it in his Scandinavian 

 Fauna, and it occurs, according to Prof. Schinz, in the 

 Alps. Dr. Eversman met with it in Buckhara, and 

 Dr. L. von Schrenck gives a variety of it in his work on 



* Brit. Quad. 1st Edition, p. 1 25. 



