common remark in rural England. Yet Buffon long ago dwelt on the cleanly
nature of the Badger, and certainly the ‘ sets’ that I have seen unearthed were
not the offensive places that many writers would have us believe. There was a
distinct ‘ badgery’ smell, but by no means a disagreeable one; it has nothing of
a repulsive nature, like that of the fox’s home. It is unusual for a Badger to
foul its den, for as a rule it goes to some little distance, digs a hole, and leaves
its excrement there.1 True, the animal is afflicted with certain parasites and
fleas, but so are all British Mammals except seals and whales,2 and in this respect
it is no worse than rabbits and mice.
Sir A. Pease says that they sometimes foul their dens, but this is surely
exceptional, for the late Mr. Ellis and his brother-in-law, in writing of the cleanly
habits of the Badger, make allusion to the fact that the animals will not take into
the earth the mud that clings to their feet after a wet night, but, so to speak,
carefully wipe their feet on the mat, the mat being, in the particular case of the
Loughborough Badgers, a silver birch tree that overhung the entrance to the ‘ set.’
The idea, too, entertained by many gamekeepers, who are often the most
unobservant of men, that the animals fully hibernate and remain in their holes
the entire winter, is another fallacy, at least so far as Britain is concerned. They
certainly possess a strong hibernating tendency, and seem less disposed to move
about in cold and snow than at warmer seasons; but that they remain sleeping in
their holes for even a week or two at a time has not been proved. Badgers’
tracks can frequently be seen in the snow, though there is a disposition amongst
the animals living in Scotland to move about less in winter than their English
cousins, probably owing to the difficulty of obtaining food. The Badger is
capable of enduring considerable fasts without inconvenience, and doubtless eats
far less in winter than in summer, his condition in the winter months enabling
him to undergo a long abstinence. About Michaelmas the Badger is fattest; it
then becomes restless, is said to come out less, and those in confinement will eat
little at this season. As the winter advances they gradually become more and
more dormant, until a state of semi-hibernation takes place, varying according to
season and climate.
In Germany, Sweden, and South Prussia Badgers may be said to hibernate
completely, for in most winters they sleep continuously from November to March;
1 Mr. Harting amusingly remarks that Badgers were evidently the original inventors of the ‘ earth-closet,’ though modern
patentees have sought to deprive them of the credit which properly belongs to them (Zoologist, May 1894, p. 186).
* Mr. N. C. Rothschild now informs me that seals are attacked by a parasite, whilst whales, especially the Hump-backed
Whale, are often infested about the head by parasitic crustacese.
but Ekstrom remarks that their winter sleep is not deep, for, like bats, they will
emerge to feed if a long thaw sets in. The late Mr. Ellis, writing from Loughborough,
say s : ‘ I have known the mouth of the earth covered with a coat of
snow for fourteen days, and it might have been much longer before they came
forth, while they may sometimes be tracked in a thin snow for a long distance.’
The Badger is captured in various ways,1 the most common one being to
place a sack at the entrance of the hole, and in the evening, when the beast is
out feeding, to drive it into this. The sack is fixed with a running noose at
the mouth, so that when the animal charges into its den it is both enveloped and
held. Another method is to hunt the Badger with beagles, after stopping the
entrance of the earth; so the animal, finding its retreat closed, soon turns to bay,
and is dispatched by a blow on the nose, perhaps its most vulnerable point.
The following account of hunting the Badger at night is taken from a
Western newspaper: ‘When hunted after the fashion generally adopted in the
West, he affords excellent sport to those who are prepared to face a long tramp
and the loss of some of their night’s rest. The prosaic way of digging them out
of the earth involves much labour, and has in it no element of sport, while
attempting to catch Badgers in traps is about as feasible as trying to catch birds
by putting salt on their tails. Driving them into sacks fixed in the earth is
unsatisfactory, as a good game dog is necessary to press the Badger hard, or he
will turn from the earth and seek shelter elsewhere; while, if you have a good
dog, the sacks are unnecessary except for the reception of the Badger when caught
by the dog.
‘ The paraphernalia of the chase are simple, namely, a good dog, a pair of
badger-tongs, and a sack. A really good dog is very difficult to obtain. The
favourite kind is a cross-bred bull terrier, about forty pounds in weight. Pure-bred
bull terriers, for some reason or other, do not seem to give satisfaction. The
“ tongs” have wooden handles and iron heads with blunt teeth for grasping the
Badger when held by the dog. For a successful hunt it is necessary to observe
which way the Badger travels from the earth. A favourite spot is the slope of a
hill, or high-lying fields where they may be easily tracked by the “ roots,” i.e.
small holes which they scratch in the ground in search of beetles and roots of
various kinds. They rarely descend into low-lying meadows except to drink.
1 Sir Harry Johnston, in British Mammals, p. 148, says that ‘ in parts of Germany, when the situation of the Badger’s
burrow was located, an instrument like a huge corkscrew was driven down from the soil above till it either transfixed the
Badger or drove him out of his hole,’ a legend on which Mr. Arthur Heinemann amusingly comments (Field,
December 19, 1903) saying that this was probably the origin of the phrase ‘ to draw a Badger.’