THE BADGER 



though regularly fed, I did not always watch 

 to see whether they all came to feed. How- 

 ever, I did so that evening, and only two 

 came, and these looked very wild and scared. 

 I then searched the plantation, and picked up 

 four of my cubs killed quite recently, and 

 bitten in the same savage way. A few weeks 

 after we killed a big boar badger in the 

 drain. Several years later, I was again rear- 

 ing some hand-bred cubs, and everything 

 went well until they were a good size, 

 when one morning I found one of them 

 killed, evidently by a badger ; and I even- 

 tually took four more of them, and the others 

 were all driven away. This badger beat 

 me for some little time, but I got him at 

 last. Though old badgers and foxes are often 

 found in the same earth, more frequently 

 when one of the latter has been run to 

 ground by hounds, yet, as a rule, they 

 give each other wide berths. If your cor- 

 respondent ' Wilfred ' wishes to save his 

 cubs, let him kill every badger as soon as 

 possible." 



68 



