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Show -3- one of the boys exclaimed, "I can hear animal sounds." ftvery foot or two they would stop and listen to determine how close they were to the nest. They expected to find babies as it was that time of year for them. Then too, they could hear little grunting sounds and a lower response from the mother. Encouraged, the boys dug down to the depth of about three feet until they reached the nest. To their surprise the babies were there but the mother was gone. They could see where she had dug in further and plugged the hole behind her. Disappointed that they had missed the mother, one of them said, "Let's forget it. I'm cold and besides we're out of food at the cabin." They all agreed, picked up the two babies and brought them home arriving late in the night after we had gone to bed. "But what will we do with them? They're so tiny they don't have their eyes open yet." I exclaimed. It was evident that Mother had thought it all out and had come to the only solution. "We'll feed them milk with an eye-dropper then teach them to lap it from a dish. They'll do fine," she assured us. "When it becomes warm enough outside we will release them." We children were so intrigued by these two tiny animals that our questions tumbled over each other. How big do they grow to be? Will they be wild? Will they bite? "It seems to me like we need to learn all we can about badgers," Mother declared. She outlined the project, assigning each of us an area to explore, Jane to the encyclopedia, Jimmie to the school library, myself to Grandma's set of animal books and Little Twirp to just sort of tag along. |