THE BADGER 169 



resorting to exaggeration. It is notoriously powerful, and 

 its strength is fittingly matched by its undoubted cunning ; 

 and were its size only proportionate to its voracious 

 appetite, it would be one of the most formidable of the 

 Carnivora. 



It has already been told how the marten and sable trapper 

 is often literally plagued to death by the Wolverene's 

 artful depredations. A well-known skilful trapper relates 

 how one of the animals depleted his traps time after time, 

 until he determined to devote his energies to catching the 

 marauder. He set nine traps for three weeks, but while 

 the cunning creature carefully avoided them, it still stole 

 the baits and any captured animals that were in the simpler 

 marten snares. The trapper next set a spring gun, only to 

 find that the Wolverene gnawed through the string which 

 connected the trigger with the bait, which it then carried 

 away without fear of injury. Three times this occurred, 

 and then the trapper gave up the task in despair, trusting 

 to find another 'marten-round' where he would be free 

 from the unwelcome attentions of this particular animal. 



The fur of the Glutton or Wolverene is valuable, and 

 when a trapper can catch his inveterate enemy, there is 

 some consolation in receiving a good price for the pelt of 

 an animal that has perhaps deprived him of scores of 

 marten skins. 



Sub-Family Melinse. 



BADGER (Meles taxus). 



Coloured Plate X. Fig. 5. 



The common Badger is the largest of the indigenous 

 Carnivora of our own country, for though it is shorter in 

 the body than the fox, and only one foot high at the 

 shoulder, its stout, broad body is of rather clumsy build. 

 One of the heaviest known specimens turned the scale 

 at forty-two pounds. 



Like the wolverene, the Badger is only semi-plantigrade, 

 the heel being slightly raised from the ground. Its long 



