Badger.

The badger is about two feet long, of heavy and clumsy shape, low on the legs, with a short thick tail, a long snout and long claws suitable for digging. The general color is grizzled gray, with dark limbs, and a black and white stripe on the head, a "badge" from which the name is supposed to be derived. It inhabits the temperate and northerly portions of Europe and Asia. Its flesh is used for food, its pelt for fur, and its hair for shaving brushes, and the kind of artist brushes called badgers. In its burrow the female rears her young, three or four at a time, the nest being made of well dried grass, and provided for with grass balls, firmly rolled together and laid up in a supplementary chamber which serves as a larder. There are also several ingeniously contrived sinks, where are deposited remnants of food and other offensive substances. It lives on vegetables, worms and wild bees. It secretes a substance which has a very unpleasant odor. There is a widespread error that its legs are shorter on one side than the other; hence the term "badger-legged." The cruel custom formerly common, of badger-baiting, or putting a badger into a barrel, and then putting in a dog to drag him out, has given the term "badger" to worrying or pestering. Although naturally quiet and inoffensive, it makes a determined resistance. The American badger is common in some parts of the West, Wisconsin in particular being called the "Badger State".

Tatou.

This is an armadillo, found in Brazil and some other countries. It is over four feet and a half long, the head and body being rather more than three feet long. It is a good burrower, and is so keen in scent for the food it loves that the inhabitants are forced to line the graves of their friends with boards to prevent the animal from exhuming and devouring the contents. Its teeth are very remarkable, being from sixteen to eighteen small molars on each side of the jaw. The tail, about a foot and a half long, tapers to a point, the base being nearly ten inches in circumference. It is covered with regularly graduated horny rings, and when dried and hollowed is used as a trumpet by the natives. The animal's armor consists of three large plates of horny covering, one on the head, another on the shoulders, and the third on the hind quarters. These are connected by a series of bony rings variable in number and overlapping each other, permitting the animal to move freely, each plate and band being composed of a number of small plates joined together, and forming patterns which differ in different member of the family.

Ounce.

This animal was once thought to be but a longer haired variety of the leopard, to which it bears a close resemblance, but although closely related to the other spotted cats of large size, it is distinguished by the greater fullness and roughness of its fur, as well as by some variations in the markings with which it is decorated. It is also called the snow leopard and mountain panther. It is preeminently adapted for residence in cold climates. Its range is very extensive, stretching across central Asia to Siberia, eastward into China, westward into Persia. Upon the Himalayas it is found at heights of nine to eighteen thousand feet, and it rarely descends below the snow line. It bears the same relation to the leopards of warmer regions that the Canada lynx, for example, bears to the ordinary lynx or wild cat. Its muzzle is notably obtuse, with arched frontal profile, in consequence of the shortness of the nasal bones. It is said to frequent rocky places, and to feed upon dogs, goats and sheep, but not on man. In fact, in countries which it inhabits, man is rather scarce.

Yak.

This is the wild ox of Thibet, or, as it is sometimes called, the grunting ox. It is a remarkable instance of the development of the hide and fur under climatic influences. The modification is like that seen in the musk ox of the arctic region, but is brought about by altitude instead of latitude. Until three months old the calf is covered with rough curly hair, like a Newfoundland dog; it then becomes covered with long hair hanging from the shoulders, sides and hips, nearly to the ground, and the tail bearing a heavy brush of long hair. The wild animal which inhabits the mountains of Thibet above the snow line, and descends into the valley in winter, is of a blackish color; its back is humped, and the form is not unlike the bison, though the long hair gives it a different appearance. The actual relationships of the yak are with the humped Asiatic cattle, of which the zebu is the best known domesticated stock. It is of great economic importance to the Thibetans, and has been domesticated, in which state it sports many colors, the same as other cattle. It is used as a beast of burden, makes excellent beef, and yields rich milk and butter. Its long silky hair is spun and woven for many fabrics. The tails when mounted furnish the fly snappers much used in India, and are also dyed in various colors as decorations and ceremonial insignia.