SOUTH-WEST LONDON 259 



borders of London, is permitted to spend his 

 hermit hfe in peace. 



Here, in solitude and shade, 

 Shambling, shuffling plantigrade, 

 Be thy courses undismayed. 



It may seem almost absurd in writing of a 

 London wild animal to quote from Bret Harte's 

 ode to the great grizzly in the Western wilder- 

 ness ! Nevertheless Wimbledon may be proud to 

 possess even the poor little quaint timid badger 

 — cousin, a million times removed, to the mighty 

 bear, the truculent coward, as the poet says, 

 with tiger claws on baby feet, who has a 

 giant's strength and is satisfied to prey on 

 wasps' nests. 



Eecently, on one of the largest estates in 

 England, in a part of the country where the 

 badger is now all but extinct, it was reported at 

 the big house that a pair of these animals had 

 established themselves in the forest, which, it 

 may be mentioned, is very large — about eighteen 

 miles round. A grand campaign was at once 

 organised, and a large number of men and boys, 

 armed with guns, spades, hatchets, pitch- 

 forks, and bludgeons, and followed by many 



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