BROCK OF BROCKLEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 96, 26 April 1933, Page 16

BROCK OF BROCKLEY.

" ..Brock is an old English word for the badger, once, apparently a power in the land, for he is commemorated in many places, such as Brdckenhurst, Brockley, Brockford. ' " ■ Though -few people have seen a badger in the wild state except those who in the name of "sport" hunt and kill this interesting and well-nigh harmless creature, it is possible he is not so rare as is imagined. But years of persecution have made Brock the embodiment of shyness, and it is only by tireless patience that a sight of him can be procured. There are, however, many quiet and secluded valleys, with steep sides, plenty of cover, and well watered, wliich contain badger "setts," as they are called. These are deep holes in the valley sides, and many of them have been used by badgers from time immemorial. There is no more indefatigable digger than Brock, and his tortuous and mysterious passageways penetrate, in some cases, a long distance in the hillside, and. are impregnable even to the besttrained terriers. At the end of his tunnel the badgerconstructs a sleeping and living chamber, and makes a comfortable bed of bracken and grass. Sometimes, when these underground rooms are too near the surface, the roof gives away when man or some animal- walks on it, as a horse attached to a plough did on one occasion in the writer's experience. The place where this happened was on the high ground above a typical hadger val-r ley, and probably an old sett was the cause of the accident. Brock is now one of the great army of nocturnal animals; it is only when night has fallen that he ventures into the open. He likes .quiet, still nights, and those when the moon is up suit him best of all. To see him and his family playing in the moonlight is fascinating, but, like all good things, can only be attained by much trouble, patience and knowledge. At the slightest movement on the part of the observer, or a veering breeze which takes his scent to the badgers, they disappear as if by magic, and; the naturalist can begin his homeward journey.