MAMMALIA 



97 



Badgers are plantigrade forms with stoutly-built body and 

 strong, short legs, armed with powerful claws used for burrowing. 

 There are stink-glands opening near the root of the tail. The 

 Common Badger {Meles taxus) (fig. 64) is commoner in some parts 

 of Britain than gener- „i«uv^ 

 ally supposed, for as a 

 nocturnal and burrow- 

 ing animal it is natu- 

 rally seldom seen. The 

 colour presents a re- 

 versal of the usual con- 

 dition of things among 

 animals, for the upper 

 side of the body is light 

 and the under side 

 dark, instead of the 

 opposite. Our native 

 form ranges right 

 across the temperate 

 parts of Europe and 

 Asia, from Britain to 

 Japan. Other genera 

 are found in Africa, 

 South Asia, and North 

 America. Closely re- 

 lated to the badgers 

 are the Skunks, which 

 range throughout both 

 North and South 

 America. Undoubtedly 

 the most graceful crea- 

 tures of the kind, they are at the same time the most offensive, 

 possessing as they do the power of ejecting to a considerable 

 distance a fluid of indescribably disgusting odour secreted by 

 their well-developed stink-glands. 



Martens and Weasels constitute a group, of which the most 



typical members are small lithe animals with an elongated narrow 



body and a long bushy tail. Most of them are digitigrade, and 



the claws may be retractile. The largest British species is thfe 



Pole-cat {Putorius fcetidus), found in rapidly diminishing numbers 

 vol. I. 7 



Fig. 65. — The Weasel {Putorius vulgaris) 



