TUP; COMMON 



I .V.I 



ontagonist, grappling with a dog of twice its own weight ; and from tlio manner in which the under- 

 jaw is joined to tin- skull, keeping a firm liold with its teeth. AY' hen llie young are taken, they may ' 

 easily tamed, and evince, much docility and playfulness. No treatment, however kind, can change ilic 

 character of the adult animal. 



- 





r-' 



lOMMON ItAIMiKKS. 



The skin of the badger makes excellent pistol holsters, and the hair is used in painters' brushes, 

 and as trimmings for articles of dress. 



THE AMERICAN BADGER. 



THIS species measures, when full grown, about two feet and a half, from the muzzle to the tail, which 

 is six inches more. Its snout is less attenuated than that of the European species, though its 

 head is equally long ; its ears are short and round ; the claws of its fore feet much longer in propor- 

 tion than those of the common species ; its tail comparatively shorter ; its fur of a quality altogether 

 different ; its colour, also, very different, and its appetite more decidedly carnivorous; the head and 

 extremities alone are covered with short, coarse hair ; all the other parts of the body are furnished 

 with remarkably soft, fine, silky fur, upwards of four inches in length, and differing only in being 

 rather more sparingly supplied on the under than on the upper parts. 



According to Sir John Richardson, this species frequents the sandy plains, or prairies, which skirt 

 the Rocky Mountains as far north as the banks of the Peace River and the sources of the River of the 

 Mountains, in lat. 58. It abounds on the plains watered by the Missouri, but its exact northern 

 range has not yet been ascertained. The sandy prairies in the neighbourhood of Carl ton House, on 

 the banks of the Saskatchewan, and also <m the Red River that flows into Lake Winipeg, are per- 

 forated by innumerable badger-holes, which are a great annoyance to horsemen, particularly when the 

 ground is covered with snow. 



These holes are partly dug by the badgers for their habitations, but the greater number of them 



* Meles Labradorica. S.iliinc. 



