STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
*4 
The Badger makes a most gloomy, dark, and tortuous burrow, 
generally excavated in some retired and shadowy spot, such as 
dense thickets, or the recesses of thickly-wooded forests. As 
is the case with several burrowing animals, there are several 
chambers in its domicile, one of which is appropriated as a 
nursery, and is warmly padded with dry mosses and grass. 
The Badger is a creature that cannot live in close proximity 
to human beings, and has, in consequence, been gradually 
banished from the greater part of England. Forest after forest 
falls before the woodman’s axe, mile upon mile of barren bog- 
land is drained and converted into fertile, food-producing soil ; 
and so, to the very great satisfaction of the political economist, 
and the very great discomfiture of the naturalist, all our large 
carnivora, whether furred or feathered, are gradually ousted 
from the soil whereon they formerly exercised unquestioned 
sway. The Badger has long ago been driven out of the land ; 
the otter is but seldom seen in the rivers where it was once so 
plentiful ; the polecat and martens have retired into the deepest 
recesses of the few forests which are still left to us, but over 
which the demon of bricks and mortar already casts an evil 
eye ; and the stoat and weasel only hold their own on account 
of their diminutive size, and the comparative ease with which 
they obtain a supply of food. They are among the animals 
which are gradually eliminated out of existence by the en- 
croachments of man, and it may be that in a few years a stoat 
or weasel may be as rare in England as a Badger is at the 
present day. 
The exact classification of animal habitations involves a task 
not easily accomplished, inasmuch as so many of them partake 
of characteristics which might entitle them to be placed under 
various categories. The rabbit, for example, might be considered 
either as a social or a burrowing animal, and the same may be 
said of the common wasp, the humble bee, and many other 
insects. 
The Prairie Dog ( Spermophi/us Ludovicianus) may, like 
the rabbit, be considered equally as a burrower or a social 
