MELIIVOEA lUDICA. 79 



The Indian Badgeii. 



Descr. — Above tawny white or light gray, black on the sides and 

 beneath ; tail short. 



Length of one, head and body 26 inches ; tail 6. Another measured 32 

 inches; tail 5. 



The Indian badger has long been considered as the Cape ratel, or 

 Honey-eater, but was recognized as distinct by Schinz ; and Blyth, who, in 

 his Catalogue, joined the two, has written me from England, where^he has 

 seen both aliye, that he now considers them sufficiently distinct. The In- 

 dian animal wants the marked white stripe that exist in the Cape species, 

 between the gray of the upper parts and the black lower surface ; and its 

 tail is decidedly shorter. A recent writer too, in the Natural History 

 Keview, for 1865, vol. I., states it as his opinion from observations of the 

 living animals that they are distinct. 



The Indian badger is found throughout the whole of India, from the 

 extreme south to the foot of the Himalayas, chiefly in hilly districts, where 

 it has greater facilities for constructing the holes and dens in which it 

 lives ; but also in the north of India in alluvial plains, where the bants of 

 large rivers afford equally suitable localities wherein to make its lair. 

 I never heard of its occurrence on the Malabar coast, nor in lower Bengal, 

 but it is certainly found in most other districts of India, though rarely 

 seen and often not very well known, even to the natives, in the southern 

 parts ; but throughout central India it is well known under the name of 

 Biju. It is stated to live usually in pairs, and to eat rats, birds, frogs, 

 white ants, and various insects, and in the north of India it is accused of 

 digging out dead bodies, and is popularly known as the grave-digger. It 

 doubtless also, like its Cape congener, occasionally partakes of honey. It 

 is often very destructive to poultry, and I have known of several having 

 been trapped and killed whilst committing such depredations in central 

 India, and in the northern Circars. In confinement the Indian badger is 

 quiet, and will partake of vegetable food, fruits, rice, &c. 



The Cape ratel, MelUvora ratel, is said chiefly to live on honey, of which 

 it is stated to be immoderately fond. The European badger, Meles taams, 

 is one of the best known animals of this group ; and Blyth has described 

 Meles albo-gularis, from Tibet, which country also possesses one species 

 oi Taxidea or Taxel, described and figured by Mr. Hodgson as Taxidea 

 leucura, the Twnrpha, of the Tibetans. The badger of North America 



