96 ON SURREY HILLS. 



from the door of a cottage that stood just on the 

 outskirts of one of them. He told me he had got 

 a queer critter that had come to his garden, and 

 to his mind it was very like a little pig — in fact, 

 " fust off he reckoned it was one o' his young snor- 

 kers hed got out. He's gone to his home now," he 

 added ; " it's close handy to my garden. About 

 seven of an evenin' he cums up reg'lar ; I be mortal 

 cur'ous about it — can ye tell us what it is ? " 



At about seven o'clock I made my way gently 

 up to the edge of the man's garden, and it was not 

 long before the " snorker-like critter " made its ap- 

 pearance. He seemed to have no fear — he had 

 evidently never been disturbed since he first made 

 his home close to ; and had he not been attracted 

 by the grunts of the cottager's young snorkers, his 

 proximity would never have been suspected. As 

 it was, he gambolled about among the fern in the 

 full joy of his nature, perfectly fearlessly — a strange 

 combination of the bear and the pig in all his move- 

 ments. If you have only seen the badger in a 

 zoological collection, you have no idea what the 

 creature is when he enjoys perfect liberty. After 

 eating something he had rooted up, our friend 



