242 BADGER-HUNTING 



less to game, though I will not pretend 

 to acquit him of the charge of taking a 

 rabbit out of a snare, or of digging out a 

 nest of young rabbits on occasion. He is, 

 however, death on small vermin and such 

 pests as wasps, though his main food con- 

 sists of roots, fruits, wild honey, beetles, 

 and insects. I believe that badgers eat 

 slugs, but I have placed dishes of assorted 

 kinds, from big black to small white, before 

 my tame ones, and never could induce them 

 to partake of them. 



I see no other method by which the 

 badger's continued existence can be assured 

 than that of hunting him. Personally, I 

 should be content if I could believe that 

 the desire to keep an English species from 

 extinction would perpetuate his existence ; 



