THE Badger is an indolent, diffident, solitary animal. He retires to the most secret places, to the inmost recesses of the forest, and there digs a subterranean habitation. He seems to fly society, and even the light, and spends three [226] fourths of life in his dark abode, from which he never departs but in quest of subsistence. As his body is long, his legs short, his claws, especially those of the fore-feet, very long and strong, he digs and penetrates the earth with greater facility than any other animal. He makes his hole winding and oblique. The fox, who cannot dig with equal dexterity, avails himself of the operations of the badger: Being unable to make him quit his habitation by force, the fox practices every art to render him uneasy: He stands sentinel at the entrance of the hole, and even defiles it with his ordure. He afterwards takes possession, enlarges, and fits it up for his own accommodation. The badger, though obliged to change his habitation, leaves not his country. He goes only to a small distance, where he digs a fresh hole, from which he never removes but in the night; and, as he never goes far, he returns upon the approach of danger. This is his only mean of safety; for he cannot escape by flight: His legs are too short for quick motion. When at some distance from his hole, he is soon overtaken by the dogs. They seldom, however, accomplish their purpose without assistance. The hair of the badger is very thick, and his legs, jaws, teeth, and claws, are exceedingly strong. These natural weapons he uses with courage and dexterity: He lies on his back, resists all the efforts of the dogs, and wounds them in the most dangerous manner. He is, besides, very tena- [227] cious of life, fights long, makes a brave defence and persists to the very last extremity.
Formerly, when badgers were more common, terriers were trained to hunt and to take them from their holes. The badger defends himself by retiring and throwing back the earth, in order to stop or bury the dogs. He can only be taken by opening the hole above, after the dogs have pushed him to the end of it. The people lay hold of him with pincers, and then muzzle him, to prevent his biting. I have kept some of them, which had been taken in this manner, a considerable time. The young ones are easily tamed; they play with the dogs, and follow the person who feeds them. But, when taken old, they continue always savage. They are neither mischievous nor ravenous, like the wolf and fox; and yet they are carnivorous. They eat every thing presented to them, as flesh, eggs, cheese, butter, bread, fish, fruit, nuts, grain, roots, &c. But raw flesh they prefer to every other food. They sleep the whole night and three fourths of the day; and yet they are subject to a lethargic or benummed [sic] state during the winter, like the marmottes or dormice. This great quantity of sleep makes them fat, though they eat but little; and, for the same reason, they can support hunger with ease, and often remain in their holes three or four days together, especially during snow.
They keep their habitations extremely clean, and never defile them with their ordure. The [228] male is seldom found with the female. When about to bring forth, she cuts down the herbage, bundles it up, and trails it with her feet to the bottom of the hole, where she makes a commodious bed for herself and her young. She brings forth in summer; and the litter commonly consists of three or four. When somewhat advanced, she brings them victuals. She now travels in the night to greater distances than formerly. She uncovers the earth from bee-hives, and carries off the honey; she rushed into the burrows of rabbits, and seizes their young; she likewise lays hold of field-mice, lizards, serpents, grasshoppers, and birds eggs, which she conveys to her offspring, whom she often leads to the mouth of the hole, in order to suckle or to feed them.
These animals are naturally chilly: Those brought up in the house would never quit the corner of the fire, and often approach so near as to burn their feet, which do not readily heal. They are subject to the itch, and often infect the dogs which enter their holes, unless they be afterwards carefully washed. The hair of the badger is always rude and greasy. Between the anus and tail, there is a pretty large fissure, penetrating only about an inch deep, from which continually exudes an unctuous ill scented liquor, which the animal is fond of sucking. The flesh of the badger has not a very bad taste; and coarse furs, collars for dogs, coverings for horses, &c. are made of his skin. [229]
We know of no varieties in this species: We have endeavoured, without success, to find the sow-badger spoken of by hunters. Dufouilloux* tells us, that there are two species of badgers, the sow and the dog-badger; and that the sow-badger is fatter, whiter, and grosser, both in the body and head, than the dog-badger. These differences are extremely trivial; and he acknowledges, that they are not to be perceived without an accurate inspection.+ This distinction I consider as a vulgar error, probably founded on the double name of this animal, both in Latin, viz. meles and taxus, and in French, viz. blaireau and taisson. Besides, those species which have varieties, are commonly very numerous and generally diffused: That of the badger, on the contrary, is one of the least numerous, and most limited. We are not certain that they exist in America, unless we regard as a variety the animal sent from New York, of which M. Brisson3 [230] [PLATE LXVII here] has given a short description under the name of the white badger. There are none in Africa; for the animal from the Cape of Good Hope, described by Kolbe* under the name of the stinking badger, is a different species; and it is doubtful whether the Fossa of Madagascar, mentioned by Flacourt, who says it resembled the French badger, be a real badger, or some other animal. It is never taken notice of by other travellers: Dr Shaw even says that the badger is totally unknown in Barbary.+ It seems likewise not to exist in Asia: It was not known to the Greeks; for Aristotle never mentions it, and the badger has no name in the Greek language. Hence this species of quadruped, an original native of the temperate climates of Europe, has never spread beyond Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Poland, and Sweden; and it is every where very scarce. The badger admits not only of no varieties, but he even approaches not to any other species. His characters are deeply marked, and very singular. The alternate belts upon his head, and the fissure under his tail, are perfectly peculiar; and his body is nearly white above, almost black below, which is contrary to all other animals, whose bellies are always of a lighter colour than their backs. [231]
* The badger has six cutting teeth, and two canine in each jaw; five toes before, five behind, with very long strait [sic] claws on the fore-feet; and a transverse orifice between the tail and the anus.—He has small eyes, short rounded ears, a short thick neck, with nose, chin, lower sides of the cheeks, and middle of the forehead white; ears and eyes inclosed in a pyramidal bed of black; hairs on the body long and rude, their bottoms a yellowish white, middle black, ends ash-coloured; throat, breast, belly, and legs black; tail covered with long hairs, coloured like those of the body; legs very short and thick; claws on the fore-feet very long; a foetid white matter exudes from the orifice beneath the tail; an animal of a very clumsy make; Pennant’s synops. of quad. p. 201.
In Latin, Meles, Taxus; in Italian, Tasso; in Spanish, Tasugo, Texon; in German, Tachs, Dachs, Dar; in Swedish, Grasswin; in Polish, Jazwicc, Borsuc, Kol-dziki, Zbik; in French, le Blaireau ou Taisson.
Meles; Gesner, quad. p. 86.
Taxus sive Meles; Ray Synops. quad. p. 185.
Ursus meles, cauda concolore, corpore supra cinereo, subtus nigro, fascia longitudinali per oculos auresque nigra; Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 70.
Meles pilis ex fordidé albo et nigro variegates vestita, capite taeniis alternatim albis et nigris variegate; Brisson Regn. animal. p. 253 [back to page 226].
* La Venerie de Dufouilloux, p. 72.
+ Id. ibid.
3. Meles supra alba, infra ex albo flavicans.—The meles alba, from the extremity of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, is one foot nine inches long, and the tail is nine inches in length. The eyes are proportionably small, the legs very short, and the claws white. The whole body is covered with very thick hair, white on the superior, and of a yellowing white on the inferior, part of the body. It is found in New York, from whence it was transported by M. de Reaumur; Brisson, Regn. animal. p. 255. He should have added to this description, that it was smaller, and that its nose was shorter than our badger. Besides, we perceive not from the dried skin, whether it had the fissure or purse under the tail [back to page 230].
* Descript. du Cap, par Kolbe, tom. 3. p. 64.
+ Shaw’s travels [back to page 231].