'i^82 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELIDiE. 



or focussed as it were, from a large area in some particular spot 

 which temporarily ofiers special attraction in the way of a food- 

 supply. Thus, I have in miud a place on the Mouse Kiver, 

 Dakota, where there had been not long before a grand battue 

 of Buffalo by the Indians, and where the number of Badger- 

 holes, then deserted, exceeded anything I had before seen or 

 have since witnessed. 



The abundance of the Badgers might be expected, in view of 

 the fact that they have ver^^ few enemies. The animals are 

 stout and determined enough to stand off Wolves and Foxes ; 

 they seldom venture far from their secure retreats ; and in fact 

 I know of no indigenous mammal which habitually preys upon 

 or otherwise destroys them. A Badger ensconced in its hole 

 would be a formidable antagonist which few animals would care 

 to molest. Their immunity from danger, partly the result of 

 their physical prowess, partly secured by the practically impreg- 

 nable nature of their resorts, together with the abundance of 

 food and the ease with which it is secured, tends to the firm per- 

 petuation and continual increase of the species in all unsettled 

 i:)ortions of the country. Man is the i^rincipal enemy of the 

 Badger, destroying thousands annuallj" for his convenience or 

 luxury. 



Besides the Sperm ophiles, Arvicolas, and other small quadru- 

 peds which furnish its staple diet, the Badger is said to prey 

 upon a variety of humbler animals, even insects and snails, and 

 to eat birds' eggs. As to the last named, there is a large sup- 

 ply on the western prairies, where many kinds of small birds, 

 in great multitudes, nest upon the ground. Mr. AY. H. Gibson 

 refers to an especial fondness of the Badger for the stores of 

 wild bees ; the honey, wax, and grubs being alike devoured.* 

 Audubon has figured the Badger with a Shore Lark [Eremo- 

 phila aJpestrls) in its grasp. Mr. J. A. Allen speaks of finding 



* I am not sure, however, that the actual reference is not to the European 

 Badger, whose apivorous habit has long been known. " Buffon states that it 

 digs up wasps' nests for the sake of the honey ; — a fact which has received 

 an interesting confirmation from the observation of a correspondent of Lou- 

 don's Magazine of Natural History, who seems, however, to attribute the 

 destruction of these nests to the fondness of the Badger for the larvae of the 

 wasp, as he says that the combs were found scattered about, but none were 

 left that contained the maggots. This predilection of the Badger for honey 

 offers a striking analogy to several others of the group, particularly to its 

 Oriental relation the Ratel, McUivora Capeusis, which is known to live 

 principally upon it." — (Bell's British Qnadrupeds, ed. of 1837, pp. 123-4.) 



