MELLIVORA INDICA. 79 



THE INDIAN BADGER. 



Descr. Above tawny-white or light gray, black on the sides and 

 beneath ; tail short. 



Length of one, head and body 2G inches ; tail 6. Another measured 

 32 inches ; tail 5. 



The Indian badger has long been considered as the Cape Ratel, or 

 Honey-eater, but was recognized as distinct by Schinz ; and Blyth, who, 

 in his Catalogue, joined the two, has written me from England, where 

 he has seen both alive, that he now considers them sufficiently distinct. 

 The Indian animal wants the marked white stripe that exists in the Cape 

 species, between the gray of the upper parts and the black lower surface ; 

 and its tail is decidedly shorter. A recent writer, too, in the Natural 

 History Review, for 1865, vol. I., states it as his opinion, from observa- 

 tions of the living animals, that they are distinct. 



The Indian badger is found throughout the whole of India, from the 

 extreme south to the foot of the Himalayas, chiefly in the hilly districts, 

 where it has greater facilities for constructing the holes and dens in which 

 it lives ; but also in the north of India in alluvial plains, where the banks 

 of large rivers afford equally suitable localities wherein to make its lair. 

 I never heard of its occurrence on the Malabar coast, nor in lower Bengal, 

 but it is certainly found in most other districts of India, though rarely 

 seen and often not very well known, even to the natives, in the southern 

 parts. Throughout Central India it is well known under the name of Biju. 

 It is stated to live usually in pairs, and to eat rats, birds, frogs, white 

 ants, and various insects, and in the north of India, where it is accused of 

 digging out dead bodies, it is popularly known as the grave-digger. It 

 doubtless also, like its Cape congener, occasionally partakes of honey. It 

 is often very destructive to poultry, and I have known of several having 

 been trapped and killed whilst committing such depredations in Central 

 India, and in the northern Circars. In confinement the Indian Badger 

 is quiet, and will partake of vegetable food, fruits, rice, &c. 



The Cape Ratel, Mellivora ratel, is said chiefly to live on honey, of which 

 it is stated to be immoderately fond. The European badger, Meles taxus, 

 is one of the best-known animals of this group ; and Blyth has described 

 Meles albo-gularis, from Thibet, which country also possesses one species 

 of Taxidea or Taxel, described and figured by Mr. Hodgson as Taxidea 

 leucura, the Turn pha, of the Tibetans. The badger of North America 



