The Wolverene, 245 



believe that it, as any otiier North American animal, is possessed 

 of sufficient intelligence to understand the mission of the trapper, 

 "vvhose foot-prints it rnay happen to find in the snow ; and we know 

 by having practiced the same art in our youth in the valley of the 

 Ottawa, that trappers are in the habit of trailing a roasted bird, 

 squirrel or piece of flesh from one trap to another, knowing that 

 the marten will follow the scent and thus be guided to the trap. 

 It is not therefore the footsteps of the trapper, but the scent of the 

 bait or trail that the Wolverene in all probability follows. Audu- 

 bon and Bachman say that this animal has always existed sparingly 

 in the United States, and only in the northern portion of the Union. 

 It is still found, although rarely, in Canada. The metropolis of the 

 species is in the cold north. Occasionally a pack of furs brought 

 from the back settlements of Canada contains a skin of the Wol- 

 verene. Audubon killed one in the Ransselaer County in the 

 State of New York ; it had its den in a narrow cave in the rocks, 

 where it had made a large nest for itself of dried leaves. 



The same species is found on both continents. It inhabits the 

 most northern points of Europe and Asia, occurring in Sweden, 

 Norway, Lapland and Siberia, as well as in some of the Alpine 

 .regions, and in the forests of Courland and Poland. In North 

 America it is found throughout the whole Arctic Circle. They 

 were caught to the number often or twelve every winter by Capt. 

 Cartwright in Labrador. It exists at Davis Straits, and has been 

 traced across the continent to the shores of the Pacific. It is 

 found on the Russian Islands of Alaska. Richardson remarks : 

 "It even visits the islands of the Polar Sea, its bones having been 

 found in Melville Island, nearly in latitude 75*^." It occurs in 

 Canada, although diminishing in numbers the further we proceed 

 southerly. Specimens have been procured in Newfoundland and 

 in Maine. 



In the expedition of Sir John Ross, as described by Captain 

 I. C. Ross, R. N. and R. S., the following anecdote of this species 

 is related : "In the middle of winter time, or three months before 

 we abandoned the ship, we were one day surprised by a visit from 

 -a Wolverene, which, hard pressed by hunger, had climbed the 

 snow wall that surrounded our vessel, and came boldly on deck, 

 •where the crew were walking for exercise ; undismayed at the pre- 

 sence of twelve or fourteen men, he seized upon a canister that 

 had some meat in it, and was in so ravenous a state that whilst 

 busily engaged at his feast he suffered me to pass a noose over 



