early in 1855, and these were delineated in the “ Illustrated News” of the time.’
Another proof of the unsuspected existence of Badgers was afforded by their
discovery in the Wookey Cavern in the Mendips when this was for the first time
thoroughly explored. The country people had no idea that there were any Badgers
in the district. There are still a few in the Kentish hills, and they are not
uncommon in the Cotswolds, whilst in the Hertfordshire hills they are even
numerous in certain localities.
In Hampshire the Badger is now common, especially in the New Forest
where it is only destroyed when it threatens to become a nuisance, and in
Somerset it is common, especially in the sandy soil of the Exe and the Barle
valleys. In Devonshire they are exceedingly common. Mr. T. Dening White,
Secretary to the Devonshire Badger Hounds, say s : ‘ In the easternmost parts of
my native county of Devon the Badger flourishes amazingly; here on almost every
hillside, if not in every covert, are heads of earths, which have been “ used”
doubtless for hundreds of years, forming vast subterranean fortresses, which local
tradition often avers extend for a mile or more back into the depths of the hills.
Many a good terrier has “ gone to ground ” in these places never to return; many
an anxious day has been spent listening and waiting for favourites who perchance
have never come back, until you curse the earths and vow to be level with
denizens that haunt them.’ Though common enough in the Southern1 and Midland
counties, it is not numerous in the North of England, but a few are always to be
found in the North Riding of Yorkshire, chiefly, says S ir A. Pease, in the hilly
districts and moors between Scarborough and York.
Mr. Oxley Grabham, who has made a special study of the mammals of
Yorkshire, says that Badgers are now common in some parts of that county. In
the ‘ Field ’ 2 he says he knows of one wood where there are no fewer than twenty
or thirty pairs of Badgers, and that in one place their earths cover nearly an acre
of ground.
‘ The Badger still occurs,’ says Mr. Coward, ‘ in certain quiet parts of Cheshire.
There are a few in Delamere Forest, near Chelford, and in the neighbourhood of
Broxton—a curious coincidence, for the name Broxton is very old.’
In Durham they are practically extinct, but in Northumberland they are still
found in half a dozen places, especially in Sir John Swinburne’s woods between
Alnwick and Rothbury, Swarland.
1 For an excellent account of the Badger in Cornwall see Wild Life at the Lands End.
2 February 3, 1900.