THE BADGER 



of his head give a very pretty and effective 

 appearance to it. The general appearance 

 in colour of a badger is a sort of silvery-grey, 

 turning to black on the throat, breast, belly, 

 and legs. Inverting the usual colouring of 

 other animals, which is generally dark on the 

 back, with lighter colouring on the belly and 

 under the arms and thighs, the badger is 

 lighter on the back and black underneath. 



FIG. 2. 



Not only is this colouring peculiar to the 

 badger, but his hair is unlike that of any 

 other creature known to me, being light at 

 the root and darker above. 



The colour of a badger alters with age. 

 The little cubs, till they are seven or eight 

 months old, are a clean, bright, light silvery- 

 grey ; they then become yellower in their 

 coats, a colour which they keep sometimes 



permanently, but which they generally change 



28 



