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THE BADGER. 



and rolls along so awkwardly in its gait that it may easily be mistaken for a young pig in the 

 dark of the evening, at which time it hrst issues from its burrow. The digging capacities of 

 the Badger are very great, the animal being able to sink itself into the ground with marvellous 

 rapidity. For this power the Badger is indebted to the long curved claws with which the 

 fore-feet are armed, and to the great development of the muscles that work the fore-limbs. 



When the Badger is employed in digging a burrow, it makes use of its nose in order to 

 push aside the earth, which is then scraped away by the fore-paws and flung as far back as 

 possible. In a very short time, the accumulation of earth becomes so considerable that it 

 impedes the animal' s movements, and if permitted to remain would soon choke up the tunnel 

 which the miner is so industriously excavating. The hinder paws are now brought into play, 

 and the earth is flung farther back by their action. As the excavation proceeds, the accumu- 



BADGER— Meles taxns. 



lated earth becomes so inconvenient that the -Badger is forced to remove it entirely out of the 

 burrow, by retrograding from its position and pushing the loose earth away in its progress. 

 Having thus cleared the tunnel from the impediment, the Badger proceeds to fling the earth as 

 far away as possible, and until it has done so will not resume its labors. 



In this burrow the female Badger makes her nest and rears her young, which are generally 

 three or four in number. The nest is made of well -dried grass, and stored with provisions in 

 the shape of grass-balls, which are firmly rolled together, and laid up in a kind of supple- 

 mentary chamber that acts the part of a larder. There are also several ingeniously contrived 

 sinks, wherein are deposited the remnants of the food and other offensive substances. 



The food of the Badger is of a mixed character, being partially vegetable and partly 

 animal. Snails and worms are greedily devoured by this creature, and the wild bees, wasps, 

 and other f ossorial hymenoptera find a most destructive foe in the Badger, which scrapes away 

 the protecting earth and devours honey, cells, and grubs together, without being deterred from 

 its meal by the stings of the angry bees. The skin of the Badger is so tough, and lies so 

 loosely on the body, that even if a bee or a wasp could find a bare spot wherein to plant its 

 sting, the Badger would in all probability care little for the wound ; and as the covering of 

 hair is so dense that no bee-sting can force its way through the furry mantle, the Badger is 

 able to feast at its ease, undisturbed by the attacks of its winged antagonists. 



As is the case with the generality of weasels, the Badger is furnished with an apparatus 

 which secretes a substance of an exceedingly offensive odor, to which circumstance is probably 

 owing much of the popular prejudice against the "stinking brock." 



