earths, generally obnoxious and to be get rid of wherever and whenever practicable.
Having lived for many years in a part of North Wales where Badgers not only
are numerous, but also, I am glad to say, receive consideration and protection,
I am not of this way of thinking. I believe the Badger is a much maligned
animal, and only deserves to be better known to be. more appreciated. Moreover,
having brought up one of these animals from a cub and made it tame enough
to follow me about like a dog, I have had ample opportunity of noting its
interesting ways and friendly disposition. Sally was considered to be about three
months old when she was unearthed after two or three days’ hard digging in an old
stronghold, at which several men had to be employed. A tremendous male
Badger, said to weigh 40 lb., was first got out, and immediately afterward# a
big vixen. Next came my Sally and her brother Jack, who, sad to say, sub?
sequently died, notwithstanding an attempt to tame and rear him. I am thus able
to say that I have met Sally’s father and mother, in fact all her near relatives.
'1 shall never forget how hopeless it seemed to try and tame this Badger
cub, for when she was not rolled up in a touch-me-not sort of a ball, she was
snapping and biting at everything. There was nothing for it but to tackle her
in a determined way, and this I did by getting hold of her by the scruff of the
neck not by any means an easy thing to do, for she could so raise the muscles of
her neck that her skin became perfectly tight and rigid; I found that, like other
animals, she enjoyed being rubbed and scratched, and upon "closer inspection I
discovered that behind her ears a small parasite (Tricfwdectes) often found upon
puppies lived in profusion. A scientific friend .assured me that these vermin
could not live on man; and thus emboldened I got still further into her good
books by destroying her troubles with vinegar and water.
‘ The taming of Sally was made more awkward than it would otherwise have
been by the fact that she refused to eat anything for the first fortnight, though
sjie afterwards took milk with evident relish. The first thing she condescended
to eat was a fresh rabbit’s diver finely chopped. By spending much time and
patience with her, she eventually surprised everyone about the place by following
me everywhere, and anxiously giving tongue for fear of losing me when I went
too fast for her.
In this old oak-panelled house when we first came to live here, beetles
sorely vexed our housekeeper, and indirectly vexed us too, for every time she saw
one she gave such a heartrending scream that I thought she must have seen a
glrost, for somehow the old place was creepily suggestive of one. Well, I chanced