CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 
293 
not, as far as I know, been defined by any traveler. The sandy prairies in the neighborhood of 
Carlton House, on the banks of the Saskatchewan, and also on the Red River that flows into 
Lake Winnipeg, are perforated by innumerable badger-holes, which are a great annoyance to horse- 
men, particularly when tlie ground is covered with snow. These holes are partly dug by the 
badgers for habitations, but the greater number of them are merely enlargements of the burrows 
of the Acetomys Hoodii and Richardsonii, which the badgers dig up and prey upon. While the 
ground is covered with snow, the badger rarely or never comes from its hole ; and I suppose 
that in that cHmate it passes the winter, from the beginning of November till April, in a torpid 
state. Lideed, as it obtains the small animals upon which it feeds by surprising them in their 
burrows, it has little chance of digging them out at a time when the ground is frozen into a 
solid rock. Like the bears, the badgers do not lose much flesh during their long hibernation, 
for on coming abroad in the spring they arc observed to be very fat. As they pair, however, at 
that season, they soon become lean. The badger is a slow and timid animal, taking to the first 
earth it meets with when pursued ; and as it makes its way through the sandy soil with the 
rapidity of a mole, it soon places itself out of the reach of danger. The strength of its fore- 
feet and claws is so great, that one which had insinuated only its head and shoulders into a hole, 
resisted the utmost efforts of two stout young men, who endeavored to draw it out by the hind- 
legs and tail, until one of them fired the contents of his fowling-piece into its body. Early in 
the spring, however, when they first begin to stir abroad, they may be easily caught by pouring 
water into their holes ; for the ground beiug frozen at that period, the water does not escape 
through the sand, but soon fills the hole, and its tenant is obliged to come out. 
" The American badger appears to be a more carnivorous animal than the European one. A 
female which I killed had a small marmot, nearly entire, together with some field-mice, in its 
stomach. It had also been eating some vegetable matters." 
As to the southern limit of the geographical range of the species, at least in one direction, it 
is known to inhabit Mexico, as appears from the detailed and correct descriptions of Fernandez, 
who cahs it by the native name of Ilacoyotl or Coyotlhumuli ; and a very fine skin was some 
time ago sent from California to the Zoological Society of London. 
THE INDIAN BADGER. 
^ The Indian BAnaER, or Sand-Beak, called Bhalloo-Soor, or Bear-Pig, by the Hindoos, the 
^Arcitonyx collaris of Cuvier, is about the size of the common badger, but stands higher upon its 
legs, and is at once distinguished by its attenuated muzzle ending in a truncated snout, like that 
of the common hog, and by its small and nearly naked tail. The whole height of this animal is 
about twenty inches, and the length of its tail nine inches. It has a body and lunbs resembling 
