236 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [caap. xaxt. 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
The Badger: Antiquity of; Cleanliness; Abode of; Food; Family of— 
Trapping Badgers—Anecdotes—Escape of Badger—Anecdotes—Strength 
of—Cruelty to. 
Amoncst the aboriginal inhabitants of our wilder districts, who 
are likely to be soon extirpated, we may reckon that ancient, 
peaceable, and respectable quadruped, the badger; of an ancient 
family he certainly is—the fossi] remains which have been 
found, prove his race to have been co-existent with that of the 
mammoths and megatheriums which once wandered over our 
islands. Though the elk and beaver have long since ceased to 
exist amongst us, our friend the brock still continues to burrow 
in the solitary and unfrequent recesses of our larger woods. Per- 
severing and enduring in his every-day life, he appears to have 
been equally so, in clinging to existence during the numerous 
changes which have passed over the face of the globe since the 
first introduction of his family into it. Notwithstanding the per- 
secutions and indignities that he is unjustly doomed to suffer, I 
maintain that he is far more respectable in his habits than we 
generally consider him to be. ‘‘ Dirty as a badger,” “ stinking 
as a badger,” are two sayings often repeated, but quite inappli- 
cable to him. As far as we can learn of the domestic economy 
of this animal when in a state of nature, he is remarkable for 
his cleanliness— his extensive burrows are always kept perfectly 
clean, and free from all offensive smell; no filth is ever found 
about his abode; everything likely to offend his olfactory nerves 
is carefully removed. I, once, in the north of Scotland, fell in 
with a perfect colony of badgers; they had taken up their abode 
in an unfrequented range of wooded rocks, and appeared to have 
been little interrupted in their possession of them. The foot- 
paths to and from their numerous holes were beaten quite hard ; 
and what is remarkable and worthy of note, they had different 
small pits dug at a certain distance from their abodes, which were 
