Vermin of the Farm. 
477 
of the animal’s hereditary cunning which piompts him to avoid 
leaving traces of his work which might lead to the discovery of 
his lair. 
A remarkable illustration of this occurred in Shropshire in 
1881. On May 13 in that year Mr. Charles Nock, of Norton 
House, Shifnal, wrote that an old dog-fox, a vixen, and three 
cubs about three months old, had that day been unearthed in 
his poultry-yard. They were only thirty-eight yards from the 
house door, and twenty-two yards from the poultry-house, and 
although ducks and fowls were all round and about the den, not 
one was killed or molested. 
A somewhat similar case was reported in August, 1887, by 
Mr. B. Morris, of Bucklers, Great Tey, Essex, of a fox which had 
its earth in an old haulm wall in a roadside farmyard. 
As badgers are by no means so numerous as foxes, and in 
most parts of the country are decidedly scarce, there is the less 
reason for laying stress upon their depredations on the farm. 
The food of the badger is of a very miscellaneous nature, 
animal as well as vegetable. Roots of various kinds, the bulbs 
of the wild hyacinth, earth-nuts, beech-mast, acorns, fungus, 
blackberries, birds’ eggs, field-slugs, snails, earthworms, beetles, 
frogs, snakes, field-mice, moles, and rabbits have all been 
ascertained to form part of the badger’s “ bill of fare.” Even 
the hedgehog falls a prey to the badger, by which it is easily killed 
notwithstanding its defensive armour. 
The question is sometimes asked whether the badger is 
destructive to game. Keepers have been heard to say that they 
would rather have half a dozen foxes in a wood than one badger, 
for the latter disturbs the place by working about in all direc- 
tions. But as the pheasants are all at roost by the time the 
badger comes out at dusk, and the rabbits are out of the coverts 
“ at feed,” there cannot be much harm done, except when the 
hen pheasants are sitting, some of which or their eggs very likely 
fall a prey to badgers as they do to foxes. No doubt in this 
way a badger now and then gets hold of a sitting bird, but 
winged game can generally keep out of its way ; and we have 
observed that in certain old woodlands well known to us, where 
badgers are common, game is also plentiful. 
There is no doubt that badgers are fond of young rabbits, and 
will dig down upon them from above and scrape them out. The 
holes thus made may often be seen, where badgers abound, witlv 
the prints of their feet and the marks of their strong claws, 
whilst occasionally some of their grey hairs are found sticking to 
the soil. 
