HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE WOLVERENE. 45 



(Voy. Araer. i, 201) speaks of the ''carcajou or quincajou, a 

 kind of cat", evidently, however, having the Cougar [Fells con- 

 color) in view, as appears from the rest of his remarks. Such 

 habit of lying in wait for their prey is common to the Cougar, 

 Lynx, and other large Cats. Not to prolong this portion of the 

 subject, I may state briefly, that the animal whose characteris- 

 tics will be fully exposed in the course of this article is simply an 

 u ncom monly large, clumsy, shaggy 3Iarten or Weasel, of great 

 j strength, without corresponding agility, highly carnivorous, like 

 'the rest of its tribe, and displaying great perseverance and 

 sagacity in procuring food in its northern residence when the 

 supply is limited or precarious, often making long uninterrupted 

 journeys, although so short-legged. It is imperfectly planti- 

 grade, and does not climb trees like most of its allies. It lives 

 in dens or burrows, and does not hibernate. It feeds upon the 

 carcases of large animals which it finds already slain, but does 

 not destroy such creatures itself, its ordinary prey being of a 

 much humbler character. It is a notorious thief j not only of 

 stores of meat and fish laid up by the natives of the countries 

 it inhabits, the baits of their traps, and the animals so caught, 

 but also of articles of no possible service to itself j and avoids 

 with most admirable cunning the various methods devised for 

 its destruction in retaliation. 



All the earlier accounts referred to the animal of Europe and 

 Asia. I have not found the terms "Carcajou" and " Wolverene", 

 nor any allusion to the American form, until early in the eight- 

 eenth century. La Hontan speaks of it in 1703, likening it to 

 a large^fijsrce Badger ; Lawson has been quoted in this connec- 

 tion, he having attributed to the Lynx some of the fabulous 

 accounts of the Glutton ; but it is evident that his remarks 

 neither apply, nor were intended to apply, to the Wolverene. 

 Catesby speaks of an animal ''like. a. small bear" which exists 

 in the Arctic portions of America ; this reference is among the 

 earlier ones to the Wolverene, those which confound it with 

 other species being excluded.* We have other definite accounts 

 of the Wolverene, near the middle of the eighteenth century, 



* The Wolverene has been confused not only with the Lynx and Cougar 

 in early times, but also rxuite recently with the American Badger, Taxidea 

 americana. Thus F. Cuvier (Suppl. Buffon, i, 1831, 267) treats at length of 

 '* Le carcajou, ou Blaireau Americain ", his whole article being based upon 

 the Badger, to which he misconceives the name Carcajou to belong. Paul 

 Gervais also speaks of the " CarJcaJoa ou Blaireau d'Am6rique " (Proc. Verb. 

 Soc. Philom. Paris, 1842, 30). 



