Little thou mayest be, Yet art His care; He, too, has given thee Gifts rich and rare. Still, then, thy voice upraise, Still chant thy Maker’s praise While we are rapt in sleep, Still thou thy vigil keep; Still let some earthly cry Go to our God on high; Humbly, yet fervently, piercingly call, Call for His watchfulness over us all. CHAPTER V. DENIZENS OF THE WOODS, &c. QUADRUPEDS. It is the inevitable, if regretful, duty of the recorder of the past to have to inscribe “Obiit” over the mention of many an individual who comes under his notice, and this applies to the four-footed animals, as well as to the birds and the wild flowers, of Woodhall. Of some of the most interesting, it must be said that they are gone, and their place knoweth them no more. The first I may mention is the Badger. This animal used to be fairly common in these parts; whether it is now quite extinct is difficult to say, because its nocturnal habits, and very retiring disposition, prevent it coming much under the observation of man. It is supposed still to harbour in the rocks at Holbeck, some nine miles from Woodhall. A specimen was captured at Woodhall about the year 1885, frequenting some rabbit holes in a bank, at that time belonging to myself, and within 100 yards of the present blacksmith’s shop on the Stixwould-road. Another was captured a few years before in the adjoining parish of Martin, which I have stuffed. At an earlier date one was taken by a man named Thomas Norris, at Well Syke Wood, some two miles from Woodhall Spa.