THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE There is a sport prevalent among the downs in Hampshire to which, though not of a high degree, much interest is attached.

Men and boys, with social glee and happy boyish shouts, congregate together on a hill-side, at the mouth of a narrow hole, and proceed, with the aid of a well-trained bull-dog, to draw a badger.

If the badger be at all commendable in his class this is by no means an easy thing to do.

He is a sturdy animal, and well fortified with sharp and practised teeth; his hide is of the toughest; his paws of the strongest, and his dead power of resistance so great as to give him more than an equal chance with the bull-dog.

The delighted sportsmen stand round listening to the growls and snarls, the tearings, gnawings, and bloody struggles of the combatants within.--'Well done, badger!--Well done, bull-dog!--Draw him, bulldog!--Bite him, badger!' Each has his friends, and the interest of the moment is intense.