72 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



The American Badger. 



Meles Labradoria, Richardson. N^orth. Zool. i. 37. Ursus 

 Labradoricus, Linn. Carcajou, Bttffon. American Badger, 

 Sabine. Brairo et Siffleur, French Canadians. (Fig. 10.) 



The American badger differs totally from that of 

 Europe^ which has a darker, 

 coarser, and much shorter 

 fur, and is marked with 

 well-defined lines of white 

 on the head : it is also a 

 more carnivorous animal. 

 Its range to the north ex- 

 tends to the banks of the 

 Peace River, in lat. 58°, and it abounds on the plains 

 watered by the Missouri. In a state of nature, it is a slow 

 and timid animal, taking to the first earth it reaches when 

 pursued ; but, as it burrows with great facility, it soon 

 places itself out of danger. The strength of its fore feet 

 and claws is so great, that one which had insinuated 

 only its head and shoulders into a hole, resisted the ut- 

 most efforts of two strong young men, who endeavoured 

 to drag it out by the hind legs and tail. The sandy 

 plains in the neighbourhood of the Saskatchewan Rirer, 

 as Dr. Richardson observes, are so perforated by badger 

 holes, that they become a great annoyance to horsemen, 

 and are even dangerous when the ground is covered 

 with snow. These holes are partly dug by the badgers 

 for habitations ; but the greater number of them are 

 merely enlargements of the burrows formed by two 

 species of marmots (Arctomys Hoodii and Richm'dsonii), 

 which the badgers dig up and prey upon. When the 

 snow covers the ground, this animal rarely or never 

 quits its hole ; where, in fact, it passes the winter in a 

 torpid state : it does not lose much flesh during this 

 long hybernation, which usually lasts from November to 

 April ; for on coming abroad in the spring, it is gene- 

 rally fat. We know not of any living specimens now 



