THE BADGER
Badger.[Frontispiece.
THE BADGER
A MONOGRAPH
BY
AUTHOR OF
"THE CLEVELAND HOUNDS AS A TRENCHER-FED PACK,"
"HORSE BREEDING FOR FARMERS," ETC.
LONDON
LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, Ltd.
16, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
1898
All rights reserved
Richard Clay & Sons, Limited,
London & Bungay.
Makes men laborious, active, wise;
Brings health and doth the spirits delight;
It helps the hearing and the sight:
It teacheth arts that never slip
The memory—good horsemanship,
Search, sharpness, courage, and defence,
And chaseth all ill-habits thence."—Ben Jonson.
[1]THE BADGER
PART I
I do not know of the existence of any monograph on the Badger, ancientor modern, in English or any other language. Nor have I been able tofind any adequate description in any work on natural history or Britishfauna of this the largest, and by no means the least interesting, of thereal wild animals that still exist in England and Wales. So that,however unfitted I may be to write a scientific treatise on the last ofthe bear tribe that we have yet with us, I have ventured to think thatmy own observations and researches, with experiences of the chase ofthis troglodyte, may be of interest to lovers[2] of the animal world, andto not a few sportsmen.
From my boyhood all wild animals have had for me an intense fascination,and though in later years my hunting-grounds have been for the most partin other countries and continents, and among larger game, I doubt if anyof the beasts whose acquaintance I have thus made has been a source ofgreater interest to me than the badger. The charm of an animal for man,where the sporting is the master instinct, appears to be measured by hiscapacity to elude observation and defy pursuit; and the badger, judgedby this test, is a charming creature. I may be mistaken, but to me itappears that the chase in its widest sense is one of the best schoolsfor studying nature. Such knowledge as I have gained of the badger hasbeen due to the indulgence of this "brutal" instinct, as it is profanelycalled, and from quiet observation. If the reader will spare a littletime, I will show him the manner in which my observations are made, butI warn him that there is nothing[3] scientific about them. I have no