116 Lieut. Col Hardwicke's Account of the Indian Badger. 



recently buried bodies of the dead, unless they are thickly co- 

 vered with thorny bushes. 



The natives, when encouraged by the expectation of pur- 

 chasers, dig these animals out of their subterraneous retreats, 

 and take them alive : the full-grown ones are with difficulty se- 

 cured, and seldom bear confinement long, but roll and beat 

 themselves about till they die. When taken young, they are 

 very manageable, docile, and playful. It is a bold animal ; its 

 hide remarkably thick, and its strength too much for most dogs 

 of common size. Its general food is flesh in any state : but it 

 is remarkably eager after birds ; and crows, which were some- 

 times given to the badger I had domesticated, were devoured 

 with impatient avidity. Living rats seemed almost equally ac- 

 ceptable : and it seldom lost the opportunity of springing upon 

 common fowls, when they happened incautiously to be feeding 

 within the length of its chain. It has the inclination to climb 

 upon walls, hedges, and trees ; this, however, it seems to exe- 

 cute clumsily, but seldom falls, and will ramble securely upon 

 every arm of a branching tree, that proves strong enough to 

 bear its weight without much motion. This species burrows 

 with great facility; scratching the earth like a dog with the 

 fore feet, and expelling the loosened soil to the distance of two 

 or three yards backwards. In ten minutes it will work itself 

 under cover in the hardest ground : and is restless till it can 

 form such a retreat to sleep in. It sleeps much by day ; is 

 watchful during the night; discovering inquietude by a hoarse 

 call or bark, proceeding from the throat. The hair of this ani- 

 mal is short and wiry, nor has it any of the softness of fur. 

 This quadruped is known to the natives of Hindustan by the 

 name of Beejoo. 



Tab. IX. represents the Ui*sus indicus, one fourth of its natural 



size. 



IV. A 



