BADGEK. 159 



late as in the year 1073, the family of the Ursidce * has 

 had no other representative, in our indigenous zoology, 

 than the present animal, which in its habits, no less 

 than in its structure, claims no very remote relationship 

 to that tribe. t 



Heavy, sleepy, and slothful — endowed with but a 

 moderate degree of intellect, and with instincts dull 

 and obtuse, it yet possesses a character and qualities 

 which, if not peculiarly interesting and intelligent, are 

 far from being disgusting and ferocious ; and if it do 

 not boast the admirable sagacity and lively attachment 

 of the Dog, it is yet free from the cunning and rapine 

 of the Fox, and the fierceness and treachery of the Cat. 

 Its favourite haunts are obscure and gloomy ; it retires 

 to the deepest recesses of woods, or to thick coppices 

 covering the sides of hills ; and there, with its long and 

 powerful claws, digs for itself a deep and well-formed 

 domicile, consisting of more than one apartment. The 

 general form of the elongated but robust body — the 

 long taper muzzle, terminating in a movable snout — the 

 hard coarse hair — the loose and leathery skin, the low 

 and plantigrade limbs, and the fossorial character of 

 the claws, combine to fit the Badger for a subterranean 

 abode, and to enable it to form that abode by its own 

 labour. Here it sleeps during the greater part of the 

 day, coming abroad only for a short period in the 

 evening or night, to seek its sustenance, in the choice 

 of which it exhibits as completely an omnivorous a 



* The Bear tribe. 



+ Since the above was written, the genus Meles has been shown to possess 

 intimate zoological affinities with the ifusteladce. Our friend Mr. Water- 

 house — perhaps the highest existing authority on what relates to Mammalia — 

 has traced gradations through a series of genera, from Meles to Mastela ; but 

 as we beliere in certain points of relationship between the Musteladce and 

 the Ursidce,' we, for the present, shall retain the Badger in the latter 

 family. 



