l provided against the cold as were
their parents, grew lazy as winter advanced, and spent most of their
time indoors on a large heap of fresh bedding, that had been collected
under the oaks and carried to a special winter "oven" below the chamber
generally occupied in summer. Here, the sudden changes of temperature
affecting the outer world were hardly noticeable; and so enervating were
the warmth and indolence, that the badgers, in spite of thick furs and
tough hides, rarely left their retreat when the shrill voice of the
north-east wind, overhead in the mouth of the burrow, told them of frost
and snow.

About mid-winter, the first of two changes took place in the colour of
the young badgers' coats; from silver-grey it turned to dull brownish
yellow, and the contrasts in the pied markings of the cheeks became
increasingly pronounced. This change happened a little later with Brock
than with his sister. Eventually, late in the following winter, the
young female, arriving at maturity, donned a gown of darker grey, and
her face was striped with black and white; shortly afterwards, Brock,
too, assumed the livery of a full-grown badger.

Meanwhile, till events occurred of which the second change was only a
portent, all remained fairly peaceful in the big burrow under the whins
and brambles. Occasionally, in the brief winter days, Brock was awakened
from his comfortable sleep by the music of the hounds, as they passed by
on the scent of Vulp, the fleetest and most cunning fox on the
countryside, or by the stamp of impatient hoofs, as the huntsman's mare,
tethered to a tree not far from the "set," eagerly awaited her rider's
return from a "forward cast" into the dense thicket beyond the glade.

One afternoon in late winter, a young vixen, that, without knowing it,
had completely baffled her pursuers, crept, footsore and
travel-stained, into the mouth of the "set," and lay there, panting
loudly, till night descended, and she had sufficiently recovered from
her distress to continue her homeward journey. Now and again, the sharp
report of a shotgun echoed down the wood; and once, late at night, when
Brock climbed up from the "oven" to sit awhile on the mound before his
door, the scent of blood was strong in the passage leading to the
rabbit's quarters. Unfortunate bunny! Next night, stiff and sore from
her wounds, she crawled out into the wood, and Vulp and his vixen put an
end to her misery long before the badgers ventured fr