THE KALAN, OR SEA OTTER. 



305 



The Badger is very susceptible of human influence, and can be effectually tamed with but 

 little trouble. It is generally set down as a stupid animal, but in reality is possessed of con- 

 siderable powers of reasoning. One of these animals has been known to set at defiance all the 

 traps that were intended for its capture, and to devour the baits without suffering for its 

 temerity. On one occasion, the animal was watched out of its burrow, and a number of traps 

 set round the orifice, so that its capture appeared to be tolerably certain. But when the Badger 

 returned to its domicile, it set at nought all the devices of the enemy, and by dint of jumping 

 over some of the traps and rolling over others, gained its home in safety. 



The colors of the Badger are gray, black, and white, which are rather curiously distributed. 

 The head is white, with the exception of a rather broad and very definitely marked black line 



SEA OTTEB, OR KALAN. -ffnAydn* marina. 



on each side, commencing near the snout and ending at the neck, including the eye and the 

 ear in its course. The body is of a reddish-gray, changing to a white-gray on the ribs and 

 tail. The throat, chest, abdomen, legs and feet, are of deep blackish-brown. The average 

 length of the Badger is two feet six inches, and its height at the shoulder eleven inches. 



The American Badger ( Taxidea americana) is widely distributed throughout the United 

 States, ranging from Wisconsin to the Pacific, reaching far to the north. Though this animal 

 resembles in general features the European species, very considerable differences are known. 



A Mexican species replaces this Badger below latitude 35. 



UPON the northern shores of the Pacific Ocean, and especially in those parts where the 

 Asiatic and American continents approach nearest to each other, an extremely large species of 

 Otter is found, which has the peculiarity of preferring the sea-coast to the fresh-water lakes 

 and rivers for the greater part of the year. 



The KALAJST, or SEA OTTER, is very much larger than its fresh- water relations, being rather 

 more than twice the size of the common Otter, and weighing as much as seventy or eighty 

 pounds. During the colder months cf the year, the Kalan dwells by the sea-shores, and can be 



