Wolverine 959 



hooks, points downward. Hitherto this has proved very 

 satisfactory. 



The fourth and only infalUble method is by the use of 

 strychnine. There is, however, a wide-spread feehng against 

 this. The Indians beheve it to be an unholy practice that will 

 surely draw down the wrath of the Great Spirit. The trappers 

 say that it ruins the fur of the animal poisoned and tends to ruin 

 all the trapping, as one strychnine bait may claim many vic- 

 tims. Nevertheless, the natives use poison for Wolverines, 

 secretly, but whenever they can get it — just as they also lose no 

 chance of getting certain other contraband poisons for their 

 personal use. 



When Linnaeus called this animal 'luscus' or 'half- 

 blind,' he either knew the creature very well or stumbled on a 

 truth, for the Wolverine has notoriously bad eyesight. 



Coues thus comments :^" " It is said that if one only stands 

 still, even in full view of an approaching Carcajou, he will 

 come within 50 or 60 yards, provided he be to windward, before 

 he takes the alarm. Even then, if he be not warned by sense 

 of smell, he seems in doubt and will gaze earnestly several 

 times before he finally concludes to take himself off. 



"On these and similar occasions he has a singular habit, 

 one not shared, so far as I am aware, by any other beast what- 

 ever. He sits on his haunches and shades his eyes with one of 

 his fore-paws, just as a human being would do in scrutinizing 



a dim or distant object. 



******* 



"Lockhart writes that he has been twice eye-witness of this 

 curious habit of the Wolverine. Once, as he was drifting down 

 stream in a small canoe, he came within a short distance of one 

 of the animals on the bank; it stopped on perceiving him, 

 squatted on its haunches, and peered earnestly at the advan- 

 cing boat, holding one fore-paw over its eyes in the manner de- 

 scribed. Not seeming to take alarm, it proceeded on a few 

 paces, and then stopped to repeat the performance, when 



^ Fur-bearing Anim., 1877, p. 56. 



