FEBRUARY 33 



Alken's great folio of British Sports, although that 

 excellent artist illustrated the text with two vigorous 

 illustrations of badger-drawing. 



'The dogs,' he says, 'in the highest repute for this 

 sport are bull terriers or fixers. The jist of the match 

 and object of betting are the number of times the dog 

 will draw the badger from his box within a given 

 space of time, determined by the stop-watch. ... It is 

 recorded that the dog of a gemman homo generosus, no 

 doubt drew a fresh, strong, and game badger seventy- 

 four times in ten minutes!' Now, considering that 

 ' drawing ' could only be accomplished by the dog fixing 

 his teeth in the lip or tender flesh of the badger's face, 

 the pain suffered under every such operation must have 

 been about equal to that caused by the extraction, with- 

 out anaesthetics, of a molar tooth. The peculiar torment 

 to which this innocent creature was habitually put long 

 ago became proverbial, and every schoolboy understands 

 what is meant by the verb ' to badger.' 



Good traditional cause, therefore, has the badger to 

 avoid the face of man, and it does so most effectively. 

 Although it is the largest of our truly indigenous 

 mammals, except the red and roe deer, it is probably 

 that which is most seldom seen, even where it abounds, 

 as it still does in many parts of England. It even lingers 

 and thrives within the bounds of the metropolis, retain- 

 ing its primeval quarters in Lord Mansfield's park of 

 Kenwood, on the borders of Hampstead Heath. So far, 

 therefore, it is a disappointing denizen of the wilds. 

 Although, as aforesaid, I turned down a lusty family of 

 five in my woods twenty years ago, and although I have 

 reason to believe they bred in the strong earths which 

 c 



