534 



PLANTIGRADE CAENIVORA. 



climbers, and more carnivorous. They inhabit the forests of North 

 America, where they live upon eggs and small birds. They are 

 remarkable for their singular instinct of never eating anything until 

 they have plunged it into water. 



The Badgers (Meles) are likewise plantigrade animals 

 of nocturnal habit s. Their tail is short, and their toes much 

 concealed by the skin of their feet ; but they are princi- 

 pally distinguished by a pouch situated under the tail, 

 which furnishes a fatty fetid secretion. Their fore-claws 

 are very long, enabling them to dig in the earth. 



The Common Badger (Meles Europea\ found in all the temperate 

 regions of Europe and Asia, lives at the bottom of a tortuous hole 

 obliquely excavated in the ground, and is about the stature of a 

 middle sized dog. Formerly the hunting of this animal was a 



FlG. 460. BADGKK. 



favourite sport, and it was baited by terrier dogs, against which, its 

 jaws, armed with strong teeth, and its long powerful nails, enabled 

 'it advantageously to defend itself. It inflicts deep wounds, and 

 lying on its back, rights with all its claws. 



The Glutton (Gulo) very much resembles the Badger, but is more 

 carnivorous. It inhabits the Artie regions, has the character of being 

 very cruel, hunts by night, and is said to overcome animals of large 

 size by leaping upon them from a tree. Its name has been derived 

 from exaggerated accounts of the voracity of one species, the Wolve- 

 rine, of North America. It is said not to hybernate during the 

 winter. 



