THE BADGER 



end of the place. The dogs are brought 

 and set upon the poor animal, who some- 

 times destroys several dogs before it is 

 killed." 



Badger-baiting, it seems, was the price the 

 race had to pay for its existence, and with 

 the happy disuse of a brutal sport the harm- 

 less badger has been doomed to extinction. 

 The only method by which any British wild 

 animal can be preserved from extinction in 

 this age of what is termed progress, is to 

 hunt it. Who can doubt, that if fox-hunting 

 and otter-hunting were stopped to-day, both 

 these creatures would be extinct within the 

 next few years? It may be a hard bargain 

 to make with them, but considering their 

 own crimes of violence, and their incompati- 

 bility with "civilization," it does not seem to 

 be a too severe condition to impose on the 

 fox and the otter, that if they are permitted 

 to live they must at least submit to the risks 

 and fortunes of the chase. Not being able 

 to do more than speculate on the intellectual 

 and nervous capacity of animals, we are apt 

 to assign to them some measure of human 



