Badgers.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



219 



repose, moving out only at night, in search of food. 

 It feeds upon roots, fruits, insects, frogs, young 

 rabbits, field-mice, &c., as well as upon the eggs 

 and young of partridges and pheasants, &c. It is 

 said to attack the nests of the wild-bee, plundering 

 the store of honey, and also devouring the larvte, 

 without dread of the stings of the enraged insects, 

 which cannot penetrate its thick tough skin. 



The badger measures about two feet three inches 

 in the length of the head and body, that of the tail 

 being seven inches and a half. The head is long 

 and pointed, the ears close, the body broad, stout 

 and low, the hair trailing along the ground as the 

 animal moves along. The fur is full, coarse, and 

 deep ; its general colour above is brownish grey, 

 lighter on the sides and tail : the under parts are 

 black, as are also the legs and feet. The head is 

 white, with a black stripe extending from the 

 shoulder over the ear and eye almost to the muzzle. 

 From its colour, this animal is in some parts called 

 the grey ; its old Anglo-Saxon name is Broc, a 

 word still retained in Scotland and the adjacent 

 counties of England. It has a glandular subc'audal 

 pouch. The badger is by no means active or alert, 

 and is generally observed to be very fat, as is the 

 case with most animals that lead a tranquil, indolent 

 life, and feed upon vegetable as well as animal 

 diet. It is nowhere very common, especially in the 

 more cultivated countries, where the woods are 

 thinned, and its solitudes invaded by the axe. 



The female produces from three to five young in 

 the summer, having prepared a nest in her deep 

 burrow for their reception. They are nursed for 

 five or six weeks, and then begin to shift for them- 

 selves. When taken at an early age, the badger 

 may be tamed with little trouble, and soon becomes 

 playful, and very attached to its keepers. Though 

 harmless and indisposed to enter unnecessarily into 

 a combat, yet it shows when assaulted great spirit 

 and resohition, and is no mean antagonist for a drg 

 twice its own weight to grapple with ; its general 

 muscular power is great ; its skin is loose and touuh, 

 and well protected by coarse shaggy fur, and its 

 bite is dreadfully severe ; indeed the jaws are 

 endowed with astonishing strength, and the lower 

 one at its joint or hinge with the skull is so locked 

 as to be inseparable, the cavity into which the 

 condyle is fitted being modified in such a manner 

 as to retain it permanently in its place. From its 

 prowess and bodily qualifications the badger was 

 formerly in much request for the brutal sport of 

 baiting, a favourite and exciting pastime, gratifying 

 to those who are indifferent to the pain they inflict 

 and incapable of purer pleasures. 



The skin of the batfger is not without value in 

 commerce. It makes excellent pistol-holsters, and 

 the hair is used for painters' brushes and various 

 other purposes. The flesh, or at least the hams of 

 this animal are said to be palatable, and to resemble 

 those of the liear, for which a relish has been felt or 

 afl'ected by sportsmen epicures. In China, the 

 badger, as " Honest John Bell " the traveller states, 

 may be seen in the meat markets by dozens. In 

 America a species of badger, the Meles I.abradorica, 

 is widely spread; this species, accoiding to some 

 naturalists, forms the type of a distinct genus. (Tax- 

 idea, Waterhouse ; see ' Proceedings of the Zoologi- 

 cal Society,' 1838, p. 153.) 



974. — The Indian Badger 



(Arctoni/z collan's, F. Cuv.) ; Meles collaris ; Bal- 

 loo-soor, Hindustanee. This animal was first de- 

 scribed and figured by Bewick, in his 'History of 

 Quadrupeds' (from a living specimen kept in the 

 Tower about the year 17iX)), under the title of Sand- 

 Bear. Bewick at once recognised its affinity to the 

 badger, but, ignorant of the country from which it 

 vras brought, suspect id it to be the white badger of 

 North America described by Brisson ; a mistake we 

 may readily pardon. Not aware that any English 

 writer had described it, Duvaucel, who saw two in- 

 dividuals at Barrackpore, in the menagerie of the 

 governor-general, considered the species as al- 

 toeether new. Fred. Cuvier regarded it as the type 

 of a distinct genus. 



The size of the sand-hog, for such is the meaning 

 of the term balloo-soor (not Bali-saur, as Duvaucel 

 writes it, norBhalloo-soor, which signifies bear-pig), 

 is that of a badger, but it stands higher on the legs, 

 and its snout is elongated and truncated at the ex- 

 tremity like that of a hog. The ears are small, 

 covered with hair, and surrounded by a circle of 

 white. The muzzle is flesh-colour, and nearly naked ; 

 two black bands run on each side of the head, and 

 unite near the muzzle ; the larger of these bands 

 on each side passes round the eye to the ear, and 

 along the neck and shoulder, to unite with the 

 black colour prevailing on the fore-limbs. The 

 general colour of the body above is yellowish-white, 

 the hairs on the back being coarse and tipped with 

 black. The under surface is very thinly clothed, 

 and llie tail resembles that of a hog. The toes (five 

 on each foot; are united together their whole length, 



and armed with large strong claws adapted for dig- 

 ging. Of the habits of this animal in its natural 

 condition little is known. The individuals, a male 

 and female, observed in the menagerie of the go- 

 vernor-general at Barrackpore by Duvaucel, were 

 remarkably shy and wild. The female, however, was 

 less savage than the male, and showed a certain 

 degree of intelligence, which gave reason to believe 

 that, if taken young, this animal might be easily 

 domesticated. They passed the greater part of the 

 day buried beneath the straw of their den in deep 

 sleep. All their movements were remarkably slow. 

 Though they did not altogether refuse animal food, 

 yet they exhibited a marked predilection for 

 bread, fruits, and other substances of a vegetable 

 nature. When irritated, they uttered a peculiar 

 kind of grunting noise, and bristled up the hair of 

 their back ; if still further tormented, they would 

 raise themselves upon their hind-legs like a bear, 

 and appeared, like that animal, to possess a power 

 in their arms and claws not less formidable than their 

 teeth. This is confirmed by Mr. Johnson, in his 

 ' Sketches of Indian Field-Sports.' " Badgers in 

 India," says he, "are marked exactly like those in 

 England, but they are larger and taller, are ex- 

 ceedingly fierce, and will attack a number of dogs. 

 I have seen dogs that would attack a hyeena or 

 wolf afraid to encounter them. They are scarce, 

 but occasionally to be met with among the hills." 



975, 976, 977, 978.— The Ottee 



(Lutra vulgaris) ; Mustela I.utra, Linn. This, there 

 can be little doubt, is the IwSph (Enhydris) of 

 Aristotle and the Greeks, and the Lutra of the an- 

 cient Italians. It is the Lodra, Lodria, and Lontra 

 of the modern Italians ; Nutria and Lutra of the 

 Spanish ; Loutre of the French ; Otter and Fisch 

 Otter of the Germans ; Otter of the Dutch ; Utter of 

 the Swedes; Odder of the Danes; Dyfigi of the 

 Welsh; Balgair, Cu-donn (Brown Dog), and Matadh 

 of the Northern Celts ; and Otter of the modern 

 British. 



On introducing the otter to notice, we may ob- 

 serve that these animals seem to conduct the Mus- 

 telidae to the seals ; though it must be confessed the 

 dentition of the latter is modified on a different and 

 peculiar type. The otters in fact constitute an 

 aquatic group of the Mustelis; indeed many of the 

 true weasels resort occasionally to the water in quest 

 of prey ; the vison of North America (Mustela 

 vison), and a near ally, the Mustela lutreola of 

 northern Europe and Asia, for example, are aquatic 

 and otter-like in their habits ; and approximate to 

 the otter in form. 



The otters are distinguished by the peculiar 

 breadth and flatness of the head, and the rounded 

 outline of the muzzle ; the lips being large and 

 fleshy, and furnished with strong whiskejs, which 

 are evidently the communicators of feeling ; the ears 

 are very small, and close to the skull ; and the eyes, 

 of moderate size, are provided wilh a nictitating 

 membrane as a defence to their surface. The tail, 

 which in most aquatic mammalia is an important 

 instrument, is long, but very stout and muscular at 

 the base, somewhat compressed horizontally, and 

 tapering gradually to the extremity. In swimming 

 and diving it is used as a rudder, enabling the 

 animal to turn rapidly and abruptly, and assisting it 

 to perform its varied and gracelul manoeuvres while 

 in chace of its finny prey. The tongue is somewhat 

 rough. The body is elongated and flattened, and 

 the limbs are short and stout ; the toes (five on each 

 foot) are webbed, and spreading ; the soles are 

 naked. On land the progression of the otter is 

 plantigrade, and by no means free or rapid : hence 

 it trusts to the water for safety, making to it when 

 attacked or in any danger. The fur of these 

 animals at once indicates their aquatic habits ; it is 

 close, short, and fine, consisting of a thick woolly 

 undercoat, and an upper layer of smooth glossy 

 In their dentition (Fig. 979) the otters differ 

 from the polecats, martens, and shunks, the 



3 3 ] 1 



molars being . — - ; carnassiere, ; tuber- 



o — o 1^—1 



culous, -H-r Fig. 980 represents the skeleton of 



the common European Otter. 



This well-known species is by no means confined 

 to the lakes and rivers of Europe, but abounds also 

 on many parts of the coast, and is common on the 

 shores of Scotland and Ireland, as well as on the 

 rocky Hebrides and Shetland Islands, where it 

 dwells in hollows and caverns, going out to sea 

 to fish, or entering the mouths of rivers, and making 

 sad havoc among the salmon, on which account, in 

 Antrim, where it hides among the basaltic masses 

 on the east coast, a price is set upon its head. The 

 otter is nocturnal, night being the period in which 

 it carries on its work of slaughter ; sly and recluse, 

 it lurks by day in its deep burrow, the mouth of 

 which is concealed among masses of stone ; the 

 luxuriant herbage of some steep bank which over- 



hairs, 

 little 



false 



hangs the water, or beneath the twisted roots of an 

 overshadowing tree. 



The movements of the otter in the water are re- 

 markably graceful, and it swims at every depth 

 with great velocity ; every now and then it comes 

 for a moment to the surface to breathe, previously 

 expelling the air pent up in its lungs, which rising 

 in bubbles marks its subaquatic course. Having 

 taken breath afresh, it dives noiselessly like a shot, 

 and gives chace to its prey, which it follows through 

 every turn and maze, till at length the exhausted 

 victim can no longer evade the jaws of its rapacious 

 foe. Whoever has witnessed the feeding of those 

 which from time to time have been kept in the 

 gardens of the Zoological Society, cannot fail to 

 have remarked the fine sweep of the body as the 

 animal plunges into the water, its undulating move- 

 ments while exploring its prey, the swiftness and 

 pertinacity of the pursuit, and then the easy turn 

 to the surface with the captured booty. This is ge- 

 nerally devoured before the chace of another fish is 

 commenced ; sometimes, however, instead of treat- 

 ing them thus separately, the otter contrives to bring 

 up several at a time, managing not only to seize 

 them, but to carry them hanging from its mouth. 

 In eating them it commences with the head, which 

 it crushes in an instant between its teeth. Eight or 

 ten moderate-sized fish serve for a single meal, but 

 it is well known that in a state of nature the otter 

 slaughters a much larger number of fish than it 

 devours : hence some idea may be formed of the 

 havoc occasioned by a pair of otters in support of 

 themselves and their young. Indeed the animal 

 seldom devours more of a fish than the head and 

 upper portion of the body. When fish is scarce, the 

 otter will feed on frogs and water-rats. Mr. Bell 

 informs us that " when driven by a scanty supply of 

 fish, it has been known to resort far inland to the 

 neighbourhood of the farm-yard, and attack lambs, 

 sucking-pigs, and poultry, thus assuming for a time 

 the habits of its more terrestrial congeners." In 

 winter, when the smaller streams and ponds are 

 frozen, the otter wanders in search of places in the 

 river, the depth of which secures them against the 

 effects of the frost, or travels down the smaller 

 streams to the large river, into which they merge, 

 and there continues its work of destruction. 



It is during the spring and summer months, while 

 the young of the otter are dependent upon the 

 mother's care, that the destruction she mak(;s among 

 the lish is most considerable ; she has not only her 

 own wants, but those of her offspring to provide for, 

 and her exertions during the silent hours of night 

 are unremitting. The track she leaves in the mud 

 or the soft soil on the water's edge, as she goes to 

 and fro from her retreat, witnesses the extent of her 

 labours, and also their success : a fish-preserve, if 

 near her haunt, at this season suffers immensely 

 from her depredations, and is certain to be visited 

 night after night until none but the smaller fry 

 remain. The mill-dams of trout-streams aie also 

 favourite fishing-places of this cunning animal, and 

 are often sadly thinned of the finest fish. Nor is 

 the injury done by the otter confined to the mere 

 destruction of fish for food; its presence militates 

 against their increase, inasmuch as Ihey are scared 

 by their enemy from their spawning-places, and 

 prevented from depositing their spawn so as to se- 

 cure the vivification of the ova, to the mortification 

 of all "honest anglers." Izaak Walton says "an 

 otter will sometimes go five or six or ten miles a 

 night to catch for her young ones, or glut herself 

 with fish ;" but it also as often happens that where 

 the otter finds a piece of water replete with prey, 

 that it there takes up its abode, and perhaps carries 

 on for weeks, unsuspected, its depredations. In- 

 dependently, however, of the footsteps of the otter 

 betraying its residence in the vicinity, the circum- 

 stance of its always voiding its spraint, or dung, on 

 one spot often leads to its discovery ; the undigested 

 remains of fish, their bones and scales, denote the 

 nature of their devourer ; and the alarm of an otter 

 in the neighbourhood is soon followed by a search 

 for the delinquent. 



Otter-hunting was among the favourite field-sports 

 of our ancestors, and is still eageily carried on in 

 the islands of Scotland, where the difficulties of the 

 chace, from the rocky, broken nature of the shore, 

 add to the excitement. Figs. 981 and 982 are spi- 

 rited illustrations of an otter-hunt in the Hebrides. 



The otter is intelligent, and when taken young 

 easily tamed, and may be taught to assist the fisher- 

 man, by driving shoals to the nets, or by catching 

 salmon. Daniel, Bewick, Shaw, and Goldsmith re- 

 cord instances in which the otter has been domes- 

 ticated, as do also Mr. Bell and Mr. Macgillivray ; 

 the late Bishop Heber noticed in India, on one oc- 

 casion, a number of otters tethered by long strings 

 to bamboo stakes on the water's edge, and was in- 

 formed that it was customary to keep them tame in 

 consequence of their utility in driving the shoals of 

 fish into the nets, as well as of bringing out the 

 larger fish with their teeth. 



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