120 MAMMALIA—BADGER. 
be met with; and carries all to her expecting brood, which she frequently 
prings forward to the mouth of her hole. 
These animals are naturally of a chilly temperament. Such as are rear 
ed in a house seem to be never more happy than when near a fire. They 
are likewise very subject to the mange; and, unless carefully washed, the 
dogs that penetrate into their burrows are seized with the same distemper 
The hair of the badger is always filthy; between the anus and the tai 
there is an opening, which, though it has no communication with any inte 
rior part, and is hardly an inch deep, continually emits an oily liquid 
This the animal is fond of sucking. Its flesh, when the animal is well fed, 
makes excellent hams and bacon; and of its skin are made coarse furs, col 
lars for dogs, and trappings for horses. The hair is used for painters 
brushes. 
THE AMERICAN BADGER. 





ae 
- = = ~ SS 
ceo — ae S 
Tue American badger, as compared with the European, is generally less 
in size, and of a lighter make; the head, though equally long, is not so 
sharp towards the nose, and the markings on the fur are remarkably diffe- 
rent. A narrow white line runs from between the eyes towards the back, 
the rest of the upper part of the head is brown, the throat and whole under 
jaw are white, the cheeks partly so; a semicircular brown spot is placed 
between the light part of the cheeks, and the ears. 
The American badger frequents the sandy plains or prairies, which skirt 
the Rocky Mountains, as far north as latitude fifty-eight degrees. It 
abounds on the plains watered by the Missouri, but its exact southern range 
has not, as far as I know, been defined by any traveller. The sand prairies, 
in the neighborhood of Carlton-house, on the banks of the Saskatchewan, 
and also on the Red River, that flows into Lake Winnipeg, are perforated 
by innumerable badger-holes, which are a great annoyance to horsemen, 
particularly when the ground is covered with snow. 
Whilst the ground is covered with snow, the badger rarely comes from 
its hole; and I suppose that in that climate it passes the winter from the 
neginning of November to April, in a torpid state. Indeed, as it obtains 
he small animals on which it feeds by surprising them in their burrows, it 


1 Taxus Labradorica. 
