ON THE PLAINS 267 



will receive a stuiiiiiiig" blow in the head from those 

 rocklike hoofs. Then the pair will be safe, unless they 

 are too tired to escape the second Coyote who is waiting 

 to head them off a little further on. But if the second 

 Coyote sliould arrive on the scene before the first is 

 disabled, struggling is useless, and the little Wolf 

 brothers Avill have the venison breakfast that they 

 coveted." 



" You said the Badger holes were dangerous for 

 horsemen. Do Badgers live with the Prairie Dogs ? " 

 asked Dodo. " The Badger in tliis picture is very 

 fanny — he looks very silly, and as if he wanted to 

 sneeze and couldn't ! " 



" Badgers make their homes near Prairie Dog towns 

 or at wood edges. These burrows are very curious 

 affairs too. They go down fully six feet, then separate 

 into galleries that lead to different rooms, the master of 

 the house occupying the largest, deepest apartment all 

 by himself. They are clean beasts, too, and keep their 

 quarters very neat. Foolish as the Badger looks, he is 

 a fierce foe, and it is a plucky dog or beast of any kind 

 who can rout him from his hole. 



" The Badger is about two feet from nose to tail, 

 which is rather short; the body is broad and flat, the 

 skin thick and touHi, the back and fore lesfs as strons^ 

 as iron. It has a pointed nose, keen black eyes, and a 

 white stripe running from its nose over its head to the 

 shoulders. The general color of its winter fur, which 

 is three inches long, is a frosty gray. We say of a man 

 Avlio has peculiarly white-tipped hair, ' Pie is gray as a 

 Badger.' The summer fur is less brilliant, being yel- 

 lowisli and faded. The Badger's chief claims to fame 



