30 Hagen on the American Badger. 



understand why the same animal makes so many entrances 

 to its abode. Sometimes, and this is more common on the 

 large plains between the Columbia and Yakima Rivers, 

 there are quadrangular places to be found, two yards long 

 and one broad, which suggest that they are a kind of roof 

 to the subterranean abode. They consist of a harder 

 material than their surroundings, as if they were made pur- 

 posely out of w^et loam or clay. The surface of them is 

 hard, smooth, and entirely devoid of any vegetation what- 

 ever. Around the border of such places are a number of 

 entrances but none on the places themselves. It is difficult 

 to understand upon wdiat animals the Badger may feed. 

 The nearly related European Badger feeds, at least in part, 

 upon dung-beetles, and near the entrance of the Badger- 

 holes their excrements are found, always containing, to a 

 very large extent, the elytra of dung-beetles. The Euro- 

 pean Badger never makes its holes perpendicularly for 

 some feet, as is the custom of the American species, there- 

 fore the excrements may be found in a certain place inside 

 the subterranean abode. We were assured that the Badger 

 lives by preference upon the Ground Squirrel and that, 

 for this reason, some farmers do not allow the Badgers in 

 their fields to be disturbed. We did not see the Ground 

 Squirrel {Sperinojyhihis doicglassU), which is said to be as 

 common as obnoxious, and is killed on a large scale with 

 strychnine. 



The hunting of the Badger would be profitable; the fur 

 is excellent and durable, and the fat very fine and abundant. 

 It was in former times much used for medical purposes and 

 commanded a high price. The European Badger is said to 

 have an immunity from poisonous snakes, but we could 

 not ascertain if it is the same with the American species. 



