62 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



Not having a place ready for it, he placed it for the 

 time in an empty hutch just over the one in which 

 his favourite doe and her little ones were. Fastening 

 the door securely, he left the animal to his own 

 devices for the night, little thinking what these might 

 be. Next morning he found, to his horror, that the 

 badger had torn up the floor of the hutch where he 

 had been placed, and got into that of the doe, where 

 he had slaughtered the whole family. Their bodies 

 lay dead there, the badger curled up in the middle of 

 them, fast asleep, and very full of rabbit. His first 

 impulse was to kill the beast, there and then, but on 

 thinking it over he remembered that he had paid a 

 considerable figure for it ; so he got the badger out and 

 sold him to one of his friends as a pet, telling him that 

 it was ' quite harmless, would live on bread and milk, 

 and in a very short time would follow him about like 

 a dog.' Very soon, indeed, he was requested by this 

 friend to take him back again, but he refused. 



I will describe one of his homes, which I have 

 visited many times. At the bottom of a glade, by 

 the side of the chalk hill, is a dip or hollow, not deep, 

 but a kind of basin about twice the size of one of my 

 living-rooms. Round this, old beeches, growing close 

 by, have pushed forth their great roots in all direc- 

 tions ; on one side of the hollow a gnarled oak stands, 



