SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



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BADGER 



The huge fore claws are a strong feature. The hind claws rarely show in the track. The 

 broad spread of the tracks hi the lower trail corresponds with the low, thick form of thi. 

 animal. 



living in many of the marvelous ruins of 

 Mexico, including Chichen-Itza, in Yucatan. 

 Wherever they occur in numbers they may be 

 heard frequently by day shuffling uneasily 

 about and squeaking shrilly at one another. 



When they first come out after sunset they 

 usually fly away in a great stream, nearly all 

 in the same direction, as though migrating. 

 This course will probably be found leading to 

 water, where they scoop up a drink from the 

 surface before beginning their wonderfully 

 erratic zigzags through the air in pursuit of 

 insects. 



From the colder northern parts of their range 

 thev migrate southward to milder climatic con- 



ditions or descend to lower altitudes. In Mex- 

 ico, where they live up to above 8,000 feet alti- 

 tude, they move down from one to two thousand 

 feet. Their young, one at a birth, are born 

 from April to May. 



It has been claimed that the Mexican bat 

 brings bedbugs to infest houses. This is un- 

 true of this or any other bat. These animals 

 have certain small parasites, some of which, re- 

 sembling small bedbugs, have probably given 

 rise to the belief mentioned. These parasites 

 live only on the bats. 



Within a few years considerable publicity has 

 lieen given to the supposed possibility of utilizing 

 bats to destroy mosquitoes and thus eliminate 



