CHAP, XXXT.] SAGACITY OF BADGERS. 241 
out in frost or snow. Sometimes I have known a badger leave 
the solitude of the woods and take to some drain in the eulti 
vated country, where he becomes very bold and destructive to 
the crops, cutting down wheat and ravaging the gardens in a 
surprising manner. One which I know to bé now living in this 
manner derives great part of his food during the spring from a 
rookery, under which he nightly hunts, feeding on the young 
rooks that fall from their nests or on the old ones that are shot. 
This badger eludes every attempt to trap him. Having more 
than once ran narrow risks of this nature, he has become so cun- 
ning that no one can catch him. If a dozen baited traps are 
set, he manages to carry off the baits and spring every trap, 
always with total impunity to himself. At one time he was 
watched out to some distance from his drain, and traps were then 
put in all directions round it, but, by jumping over some and 
rolling over others, he escaped all. In fact, though a despised 
and maltreated animal, when he has once acquired a certain 
experience in worldly matters, few beasts show more address ai.d 
cunning in keeping out of scrapes. Though eaten in France, 
Germany, and other countries, and pronounced to make excel- 
lent hams, we in Britain despise him as food, though I see no 
reason why he should not be quite as good as any pork. 
The badger becomes immensely fat. Though not a great 
eater, his quiet habits and his being a great sleeper prevent his 
being lean. 
The immense muscular power that he has in his cnest and legs 
enables him to dig with great rapidity, while his powerful jaws 
(powerful, indeed, beyond any other animal of his size) enable 
him to tear away any obstacle in the shape of roots, &c. that he 
meets with. He can also stand with perfect impunity a blow on 
his forehead which would split the frontal bone of an ox. This 
is owing to its great thickness, and also to the extra protection 
of a strong ridge or keel which runs down the middle of his 
head. A comparatively slight blow on the back of his head kills 
him. In his natural state he is more than a match for any 
animal that would be inclined to molest him, and can generally 
keep at bay any dog small enough to enter his hole. Fighting 
at advantage from behind some stone or root, he gives the most 
fearful bites and scratches, while the dog has nothing within his 
R 
