Ursid.e. MAMMALIA. UnsiDiE. 75 
the belly touching the ground during progression. 
The head is remarkably long and attenuated in front. 
The ears are short, almost concealed, and placed well 
back. The mouth is provided with thirty-six teeth, of 
which there are twelve incisors, four canines, sixteen 
spurious, and four true molars, a moiety being appro- 
priated b}' either jaw. The back is feebly curved, the 
tail being particularly short and only reaching down 
to the middle of the limbs. One of this animal’s most 
remarkable peculiarities consists in the presence of a 
Fig. 21. 
The European Badger (Metes taxus). 
glandular pouch situated under the tail. This organ, 
which also exists in many other carnivorous animals, 
such as the skunks and weasels, secretes an unctuous 
oily material having a disgusting fetid odour. It is 
this circumstance which has suggested the common 
jtroverb, by which ill-savoured matters are said to 
“ stink like badger.” With regard to the varied 
colour of the fur, Mr. Ogilby gives the following 
minute description ; — “ Tlie head of the badger is 
white, except the region beneath the chin, which is 
black, and two bands of the same colour, which rise on 
eacli side, a little behind the corners of the mouth, and 
after passing backwards and enveloping the eye and 
ear, terminate at the junction of the head and neck. 
The hairs of the upper part of the body, considered 
separately, are of three different colours — yellowish- 
white at the bottom, black in the middle, and ashj^- 
grey at the point ; the last colour alone, however, 
appears externally, and gives the uniform sandy-grey 
shade which covers all the upper parts of the body. 
The tail is furnished with long, coarse hair of the 
same colour and quality, and the throat, breast, belly, 
and limbs are covered with shorter hair of a uni- 
form deep black.” The European badger can scarcely 
be considered a common animal. It is by no means 
abundant on the continent, while in this country it 
appears to be rapidly approaching extinction. It has 
lost its ursine companion of former days, and in a few 
centuries more our persecuted friend will probably be 
better known by his fossil remains than by the smell 
of his greasy fur. At, or immediately succeeding, the 
close of the glacial period, he associated himself with 
several species of bears and hyaenas, whose specific 
characters and habits are only known to us by the 
bony relics they have left in caverns and among the 
sands of time. A master hand has thus portrayed 
the habits of a living badger: — “Heavy, sleepy, and 
slothful, endowed with but a moderate degree of intel- 
lect, and with instincts dull and obtuse, it yet possesses 
a character and qualities which, if not peculiarly inter- 
esting and intelligent, are far from being di.sgusting 
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 cover- 
ing 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 
single entrance to which is by a deep, oblique, and 
even tortuous excavation. The general form of the 
elongated but robust body, the long taper muzzle ter- 
minating 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 subterraneous abode, and to 
enable it to form that abode by its own labour. 
There 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 character as 
perhaps any animal with which we are acquainted. 
Its food, in fact, consists indifi’erently of various roots, 
earth-nuts, beech-mast, fruits, the eggs of birds, some 
of the smaller quadrupeds, frogs, and insects. Buffon 
states that it digs up wasps’ nests for the sake of the 
honey — a fact which has received an interesting con- 
firmation from the observation of a correspondent of 
LoudoiHs Magazine of Natural History, who seems, 
liowever, to attribute the destruction of these nests to 
the fondness of the badger for the larvae of the wasp, 
as he says that the combs were found scattered about, 
but none were left that contained the maggots.” Mr. 
Bell also observes, further on, in regard to the methods 
of taking this animal — “ The favourite mode, and 
that which is perhaps the most successful, is by catch- 
ing him in a sack placed at the entrance of his hole. 
The haunt of a badger being ascertained, a moon-light 
night is chosen when he is out feeding, and a small 
sack is placed within the mouth of the hole, fastened at 
the outside, with the mouth of the bag outwards, 
and having a running string round it. Two or three 
couples of hounds are then thrown off at some dis- 
tance, and as soon as the badger hears their cry, he 
makes for his home with all speed, and runs into the 
sack, which closes behind him by the tightening of the 
running string at its mouth. Another method is by 
digging him out. This, however, is laborious and not 
always successful, particularly in sandy soils, in which 
the badger will easily foil the dogs which pursue him 
in his subterraneous passages, by throwing the earth 
back upon them, and blocking up their way, whilst he 
takes advantage of their loss of time, and makes his 
way to the surface.” The nest of the badger is made 
of soft herbage, especially moss and grass. The female 
produces three or four young ones at a birth, the cubs 
being suckled for about five or six weeks, after which 
