THE COMMON BADGER 675 



animals. The skin of the common badger is remarkably large and" loose, enabling 

 the animal, when seized by almost any part, to turn and bite its aggressor; and the 

 fur is long and loose. With the exception of a black stripe on each side, starting 

 between the nose and the eye and running backward to include the ear (of which 

 the tip is white), the head of the badger is white. The lower jaw, throat, and all 

 the under parts, as well as the limbs are black; while the upper parts are reddish 

 gray, and the flanks and tail light gray. The length of a full-grown badger from 



THE COMMON BADGER. 



(One-seventh natural size.) 



the snout to the root of the tail, will vary from about twenty-five to twenty-nine 

 inches, that of the tail being about seven and one-half inches; and the weight has 

 been estimated at from twenty-five to thirty pounds, 



Distribution The common ba dger, or, as it used to be called in England, the 



brock, is distributed over the whole of Europe, with the exception of 



the north of Scandinavia and the island of Sardinia; and it is also widely spread 



over Northern Asia, where it ranges in Siberia as far as the river Lena. It is 



