136 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



spine as if carefully brushed toward each flank, is 

 loose and flaring at the sides, giving the animal 

 the appearance of having a rather stiff fur blanket 

 balanced across its back. The legs are short and 

 firm, and the large feet are furnished with long 

 and very strong claws, making them powerful 

 digging-tools. The tail is short and thick. The 

 head is broad, massive, and dog-like, with round, 

 furry ears, a hairy muzzle, and jaws filled with 

 formidable teeth, scarcely less terrible than those 

 of the wolverine. The whole squat, compact, large- 

 boned, massively skulled form indicates great mus- 

 cular power ; and it is controlled by a capable brain 

 and an indomitable spirit. 



" As gray as a badger " is a proverbial expres- 

 sion that originated, probably, almost in the begin- 

 nings of speech, and in reference to the European 

 badger, which has much the same general appear- 

 ance and methods as ours, but anatomically is 

 somewhat different. The loose fur is a " grizzle of 

 blackish, with white, gray, or tawny," each hair 

 having all these colors on some part of its length, 

 and the whole blending handsomely. The colors 

 vary greatly, however, with season, age, and health, 

 and in the high, arid interior of the country are 

 always much lighter, less tawny, than in the 

 moister, easier climate of the Pacific Slope. The 

 fur of the under side of the body is more uni- 

 formly whitish than on the upper parts, except as 

 to the feet, which are blackish brown. The head 



