76 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



Scotland. It is so easy to kill the fox, and he is 

 such a destructive beast, that half a century hence 

 we can imagine the farmer and henwife saying, " If 

 the fox is wanted alive for the sake of his beauty, 

 or for some such reason, the good people who want 

 hun must pay for his keep, otherwise it must be a 

 life for a life." 



But the badger is not destructive ; or at all events 

 the damage he inflicts on the farmer is comparatively 

 insignificant, and he is very very hard to kill. Though 

 our largest savage beast he has, up till now, maintained 

 his existence throughout the length and breadth of 

 the land, in spite of much persecution ; and we now 

 see that there is growing up a feeling in favour of 

 his preservation, which will make his position safer. 



I learned on inquiry that the badgers whose earth 

 I had found were not in any danger of being disturbed, 

 and I was told of a second earth a few miles from 

 the first where the animals were also allowed to be 

 at peace. 



The stoat is not uncommon on the downs, and 

 loyally aids the fox in his labour of keeping the 

 rabbits down. The common shrew also abounds, 

 although these high and excessively dry hills strike 

 one as a most unsuitable district for such an animal. 

 And here as in other places it is a common thing 

 to find these quaint little creatures lying dead in bare 

 open spots. All the dead shrews I have examined 

 on the downs had been killed, and from the crushed 



