HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE WOLVERENE. 51 



Foxes, Martens, or other animals froQi smelling the hidden meat 

 and digging it up. Caches must be made of green wood, and 

 be exceedingly strong, or the animal will certainly break into 

 them. He has been known to gnaw through a log nearly a 

 foot in diameter, and also to dig a hole several feet deep in 

 frozen ground, to gain access to the coveted supply. Should 

 he succeed in gaining entrance for himself, and yet be unable 

 to displace the logs sufficiently to permit of removal of the 

 meat, the brute will make water and dirt all over it, rendering 

 it wholly unfit to be used; even a dog will then scarcely touch it. 



To the trapper, the Wolverenes are equally annoying. When 

 they have discovered a line of Marten traps, they will never 

 abandon the road, and must be killed before the trapping can 

 be successfully carried on. Beginning at one end, they proceed 

 from trap to trap along the whole line, pulling them success- 

 ively to pieces, and taking out the baits from behind. When 

 they can eat no more, they continue to steal the baits and cache 

 them. If hungry, they may devour two or three of the Martens 

 they find captured, the remainder being carried off and hidden 

 in the snow at a considerable distance. The work of demoli- 

 tion goes on as fast as the traps can be renewed. 



The propensity to steal and hide things is one of the strongest 

 traits of the Wolverene. To such an extent is it developed 

 that the animal will often secrete articles of no possible use to 

 itself. Besides the wanton destruction of Marten traps, it will 

 carry off the sticks and hide them at a distance, apparently in 

 sheer malice. Mr. Ross, in the article above quoted, has given 

 an amusing instance of the extreme of this propensity: — "The 

 desire for accumulating property seems so deeply implanted iu 

 this animal, that like tame ravens, it does not appear to care 

 much what it steals so that it can exercise its favorite propen- 

 sity to commit mischief. An instance occurred within my own 

 knowledge in which a hunter and his family having left their 

 lodge unguarded during their absence, on their return found 

 it completely gutted — the walls were there but nothing else. 

 Blankets, guns, kettles, axes, cans, knives and all the other 

 paraphernalia of a trapper's tent had vanished, and the tracks 

 left by, the beast showed who had been the thief. The family 

 set to work, and by carefully following up all his paths recov- 

 ered, with some trifling exceptions, the whole of the lost prop- 

 erty." 

 . Though very clumsy animals, the Wolverenes manage to cap- 



