CLASS MAMMALIA.
41
some extracts from the churchwardens' accounts of the
parishes of St. Peter's and All Saints, Maldon, showing the
Badger to have been very common in that borough (which
then included some woodland) from the year 1716 to
1754, and probably long afterwards. The reward paid for
the destruction of this "vermin" appears to have been
uniformly a shilling a head, the same sum as was paid for a
Fox.
The quantity of bones of badgers found in exploring the
Dene-holes at Grays (Essex Nat., vol. i., p. 257) points to its
having formerly been a common animal in that district.
Within the last few years, two Badgers have been taken in
the Colchester district; and, still more recently, another was
caught at Bentley, between Colchester and Harwich. One
almost feared that these might be the last survivors of a race
which gave much sport to our ancestors—or, perhaps, one
should say, gave opportunity for the exhibition of much
brutality. In my younger clays, I saw a few baitings of
Badgers caught at South Benfleet, where, in 1844, there were
several earths. It did not strike me, however, that any great
amount of suffering was inflicted on the Badger. The dogs,
especially those new to the work, gave unmistakable evi-
dence of their dread of the Badger's jaws. Mr. J. E. Harting
quotes (Essex Nat., vol. iii., p. 197) a song from The Sports-
man's Vocal Cabinet (1830, p. 136), edited by Charles Armiger,
describing the delights of a Badger hunt in Epping Forest.
The unfortunate beast was brutally ill-treated when captured.
Still, the Badger is by no means extinct in Essex. The
fortunate preservation of Epping Forest by the Corporation
of London has provided a safe retreat for some pairs which
Mr. E. N. Buxton introduced into the woods in 1886. Mr.
Buxton says (Epping Forest, 4th Ed., 1897) that they now
occupy a large " holt " in Loughton Manor, and are increasing,