132 LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



On the gestation of the Badger Mr. Trevor-Battye sends me 

 the following note : — " As a rule, no doubt, the Badger pairs 

 in October and the young are born in March or April. I lived 

 for many years close to a stronghold of Badgers and had un- 

 usual opportunities for watching them. It has been said and 

 written that Badgers do not breed till two years old. This is 

 wrong. Some years ago I had a pair which were probably about 

 six weeks old. They were called Gripper and Nancy. They 

 would rest on my lap while feeding, and used to sit up and beg 

 like Dogs. Their hearing and power of scent were remarkable. 

 They were in a closed square yard, but if any of the dogs came 

 near, even following a path which ran at a distance of about 

 six or seven yards, they would instantly jump off my lap and 

 disappear into a corner. These animals could walk and trot 

 backwards with the greatest ease. I have never seen this 

 mentioned ; yet it is worth noticing because the movement is 

 characteristic of the Mustelida, not being shared to my know- 

 ledge by any other Mammal — not, for instance, by the Bears. 

 As I was leaving home I was obliged to send off my Badgers. 

 They went to a friend in the New Forest. Here they escaped 

 from confinement and took up their quarters under some 

 faggots in an outhouse. They paired that October and made 

 their nest (the contents of which would have filled a big wheel- 

 barrow and more) in the beginning of April. But poor Gripper 

 came back one night with a trap on his foot. The chain of the trap 

 got wound round somehow in the burrow and held him prisoner. 

 So he died ; and Nancy forsook the earth and went to breed 

 elsewhere. In those days I did not understand maceration. 

 But, as I wanted Gripper's skeleton, I boiled him in the copper 

 outside, after he had been dead a month. Out of this Badger 

 soup I collected even the smallest vertebra. ' To stink like a 

 Badger ' is a lying libel on the living animal ; it was not over- 

 stated in the case of Gripper dead — and boiling ! " 



