Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-12-11
DRIVEN OUT BY MAN.
The Disappearance of Wild Animals
from Great Britain.

struggle, a badger had been caught
alive at Lyddon. neal Dover, is a cir
cumstance %curiously suggestive OF the
rapidity with which this and other un-
protected wild animals are disappear
ing from the British islands In the
immediate vicinity of the place where
this member Of the lingering ferp of
Kent was secured the badger seems 10
be considered a great rarity. This is,
no doubt, due to the character of the
khboring district, coupled with the
comparatively ~populous condition of
the country generally. However, in
no spot is the sole representative of the
bear family in our islands common,
and every year it is getting scarcer
and scarcer, until in time t is certain
10 share the fate which has overtaken
the wolf. the beaver, and the brown
bear, once plentiful in Great Britain,
and which is quite as surely overtaking
the foumart, the wildcat, and the otter.
Nevertheless, the badger still manages
70 hold its own in some Of the less &C.
eessiblc spots even in the home coun-
ties, Al one time it was frequently
met with in Oxfordshire, and the slate
suarries of Stonestield are, or were. Il
notable stronghold Of this somewhat
uncouth brute. In that locality it used
creep into the passages, crevices,
Md excavations, and not infrequently
not only managed to put the dogs at
defiance, but TO have the satisfaction of
seeing its too eager enemies damned
between the s1ones and slowly perish
ing with their prey in sight.
In the forest of WILDWOOD, in Ditch
ley park and woods, and in various
other places in Gloucestershire and the
Cotswold hills, ii is, if not abundant,
not uncommon. Indeed. in the oolitic
districts. the undulating surface Of
which is spotted with parks, woods and
ooppices. containing broken ground
and deserted quarries, and with a soil
into which it can easily buTew, it was
affirmed some years ago that the
badger was actually increasing in mum
bers. BE that as it may, the animal is
decidedly diminishing in numbers in
England generally. The cessation of
the barbara Gus sport of badger draw
ing has been attributed to the difficult
ty of finding the principal agent in the
amusement Not unlikely, the numer-
ical decrease of the creature is really
due TO the difficulty in finding a mar
kct for it alive. Hence gamekcepers,
instead of keeping what the old writer's
used to call Il 'cote of badgers" in a
locality handy TO the stables, shoot and
trap them wherever they are found,
instead of capturing them in n sack or
by the less scientific method of digging
them out of their hole. But, indeed,
the badger is by no means so mischiey-
GUS as many smaller animals. Heavy,
sleepy and slothfuI, rather stupid than
keen. neither cunning nor %rapaciOus,
nor fierce and treacherous, it never at
taeks until driven to the last extremity
in defense of It's life. But if once it
grasps there is no loosing its hold. 1t
eats almost anything-roots, beach
nuts. fruits, birds, eggs. frogs, mice and
insects, and will never hesitate at rob
bing the wasps' nests, if not for the
honey, at least for the sake of the larvr,
Of which it is extremely fond.
Nevertheless, these indiflerently evil
qualities have not saved it from porse-
cution. Lord save u.s." exclaimed
Daniel Dinmont, whose kindly DISPOSE
tion did not extend in that direction,
Ito care about "A brock!' For ages
badgers we're drawn and bulls baited
by the gentleman of England, until the
verb ''to badger'grew out of the sport.
The families of Badger and Brock bear
the creature on their coats OF arms, and
the hamlets of Brockbridgc, Broken
hurst, etc, evidently point to the
abundance of the animal in or about
these spots at AZ earlier period IN our
history. 1t can not survive the pro-
grcss OF agriculture and the increase Of
the population, though it is possible that
if much of the corr land Is thrown into
pasture there may be Il pause III its
progres toward determination. The
cunning Of the wild cat has not saved
"A while the steady wal wagcd on the
ear led to the last disappearing rs
early AS the tenth century, for the
nscript often quoted us proof that n
Gordon killed one rs late rs 1867,
speaks not of bears but of boars. The
wolf survived in Scotland until the
dawn of the last century, and in Ire
land to y still later period. but event
ually persisted at the hands of the in
furiated farmers; while the wild boar
owed its determination during the
reign of Charles III. to u like unpopular
ity amond the country people. The
wild G of which the last
remnants are now only known
in captivity fell mainly through
the keenncss with which they
were hunted, and the large quantities
Of flesh which they afforded; and the
beaver which persisted in most parts of
England before the arrival of the Nor
mans. though it fingered in remote
parts of Wales and Scotland to a later
date, died simply owing to the ease
with which it could be trapped. The