FOX AND BADGER. 



33 



and beasts — the mystery of whose Hves he is not able to 

 fathom. What does he yet know about these ancient 

 neighbours of his — their means of communication amongst 

 themselves, their powers of appreciation, their attachment 

 to home and young, their capabilities of enjoying life, their 

 loves and fears, and of that mysterious power which, for vv^ant 

 of a better word, we call instinct ? To quote from a Saturday 

 Reviewer : All sylvan and rural England is being * dis- 

 peopled ' of her ' dreams,' of her shy population in fur, fin, 

 and feather." Surely, then, when so little remains of the 

 ancient fauna of England, it is right to spare what is left, 

 and strive rather to preserve, increase, and restore these our 

 most curious and interesting neighbours, thus making a 

 late and tardy reparation for much wrong done in the past 

 in the hard old times which are gone past recall. 



D 



