130 



The Living Animals of the World 



Pliolc, by Scholastic I'hoto. O..] iPa,so,is Grcci. 



EUROPEAN BABGER, 



Badgers can lie rcadilv kept in eonflnenient, and are Dot difficult to tame 



til. 



iinghly. 



bodies and slioit tails. They are tree- 

 climbers, and as omnivorous as tlie 

 badger itself. The Cafe Zorilla, with 

 another speeies found in Egypt, is 

 more nearly allied to the jioleeats, but 

 is striped like a skunk. 



The KuiiorEAN Badger is still fairly 

 numerous. 'J'liere is not a county in 

 Ensjland where it is not found. A 

 large colony lias been established in 

 ICppiiig Forest, some fifty yards square 

 of hillside being honeycombed with 

 liadger-eartlis. The European badger 

 is found all cn'er temperate Northern 

 ]Curo})e and Asia ; liut being shy, wary, 

 and mainly nocturnal, is seldom seen. 

 At night it waiiih'is about, and in 

 August gets into tlie corn-fields^ 

 whence it is chased and caught by 

 doffs. A Somersetshire farmer had a 

 pointer and sheep-dog which were 

 adepts at this night-catching of badgers. They would accompany their master along the roads, 

 and the pointer instantly winrled any badger which had crossed, Koth dogs then bounded 

 off, and soon their loud barking showed that they had found and "held up" tlie liadger. 

 The dogs' owner then came up, picked the badger up by its tail, and dnipped it in a 

 sack. The liadger's "earth" is wonderfully deep and winding; in it tlie liadgcr sleeps 

 during the winter, and gives birth to its young, three or four of which are produced at a 

 time. The end of ]\Iarch is tlie period of birth, but the culis do not come out until June. 

 In October they are full-grown. The badger carries in a great quantity of fern and grass as 

 a bed for its culis. j\lr. Trevor-Battye writes: "I had a pair wliicli were probably about 

 six weeks old. Thev were called (iripper and Nancy. They wnuld rest on my lap when 

 feeding, and sit up and beg like dogs. Their hearing and power of scent were remarkable. 

 The badgers were in a closed vard ; fait if any of the dogs came near, even following 

 a path which ran at a distance of six or seven yards, they would instantly jump off my lap 

 and disappear into a corner. The animals could walk and trot backwarJs with the 

 greatest ease." J have never seen this noticed elsewhere, yet it is worth mentioning, because 

 it is characteristic of tlie Weasel Family, not being shared, to my knowl(Hlge, by any other 

 mammal — not, for instance, by the Bears. 



■Mr. A. E. Pease says of the badger: "It is easily domesticated, and if Ijrought up by 

 hand is found an interesting and charming companion. I had at one time two that I could 

 do anything witii, and which followed me so closely that tliey would bum[i against my boots 

 each step I took, and come and snuggle in under my coat when I sat down." 



The Eatels. 



As the mink is adapted for an aquatic diet, so the Hatels, a link Ijetween the Weasels 

 and the liadgers, seem to have been specialised to live upon insects and honey as well as flesh. 

 They are quaint creatures, with roimded iron-grey backs, and black bellies, noses, and feet. The 

 African kind is found in Cape Colony and East Africa, and is believed to live largely on honey 

 and bee-brood. The habits of the ratel are almost identical with tliose of the badger, except 

 that it is less shy and very restless. A nearly similar species of ratel is found in Southern 

 Asia from the Caspian to India. 



The ratels are strictly nocturnal, and make their lair by day in hollow trees, though they 



