Badger _Ursus taxus_ Schreber, Saugethiere, 3:520, 1778. _Taxidea taxus_ Rhoads, Amer. Nat., 28:524, June, 1894. _Taxidea taxus neglecta_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Pap. Chas. R. Conner Mus., no. 2:12, December, 1929. _Taxidea taxus taxus_ Hall, Carnegie Inst. Washington, Publ. 473:78, November 20, 1936. _Type._--None. Type locality probably southwest of Hudson Bay (Hall, 1936: 78). _Measurements._--Two males from northern Nevada measure, respectively: total length 780, 762; length of tail 113, 150; hind foot 136, 120; ear 55, 54; weight 15, 11 pounds. _Distribution._--Of general distribution over open country east of the Cascades. Marginal records are Wauconda (Taylor and Shaw, 1929: 12), Chelan (Taylor and Shaw, 1929: 13), Goldendale (W. W. D.) and "Divide above Trout Lake" (trapper's photograph). [Illustration: FIG. 66. Badger (_Taxidea taxus taxus_), tame animal in Seattle, Washington. January 29, 1938. Captured at Lakeside, Chelan County, and photographed at approximate age of ten months; subadult male. (Eloise Kuntz photo.)] _Description._--The badger is the size of a small dog, measuring up to 32 inches in total length and weighing up to 20 pounds. The body is heavy, powerful and remarkably flat and compressed. The tail and legs are short. The forelegs are thick and strong, armed with long heavy claws for digging. The ears are wide and low. The color of the upper parts is a grizzled yellowish brown, not unlike the color of the yellow-bellied marmot. The underparts are buffy, often with a white area on the abdomen. The legs, feet, top of head, ears, and small areas on the cheeks are blackish. Triangular areas about the eyes are buffy. A white stripe extends from the nose pad backwards, between the eyes, to the shoulders and serves as the best recognition mark. [Illustration: FIG. 67. Distribution of the badger, _Taxidea taxus taxus_, in Washington.] Badgers are found over central and western United States, Canada and northern Mexico. They are commonest on the plains and desert, principally because the burrowing mammals upon which they feed are most abundant there. The badger is a powerful and rapid digger, being able to overtake and capture mice, ground squirrels, and even pocket gophers. Perry (1939: 49-53) in her interesting accounts of the habits of a pet badger obtained at Lakeside, Chelan County, found the animal powerful enough to dig through a concrete floor! Evidence of badger's activities are usually seen at any ground squirrel colony in eastern Washington. This evidence consists of large holes in the ground. Rarely a horizontal tunnel begins at the depth of two to four feet and extends for an unknown distance. Earth removed in excavating is heaped beside one or both of the narrower sides of the surface opening.