314 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



In temper the Marten is very savage, and also finely 

 courageous. When caught, it fiercely glares upon the 

 trapper, and growls its hatred. So strong is its appetite, 

 and so dull its sense of pain, that even with one foot 

 crushed in a steel trap, it will accept food and make a 

 hearty meal, growling angrily all the while. When 

 caught in a steel trap it does not lie down and give up, 

 but snarls and fights to the end. 



One Marten was seen on our trip, near the spot where 

 the cycloramic bear-hunt occurred. Mr. Phillips saw it 

 start to run along a fallen log, and instinctively took aim 

 at it, when Mack Norboe cried out in great alarm, 



" Hold on, Mr. Phillips! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! 

 That pelt will be worth twenty dollars next month!*' 



That Marten went its way unharmed — until the trap- 

 ping season. 



The absence of wolves was very noticeable. We saw 

 not one Gray Wolf {Canis nubilis), and the only Coyotes 

 {Cants latrans) encountered were the two young ani- 

 mals which Mr. Phillips found on the Sulphur Spring 

 meadow, one of which he killed. But of course wolves 

 are more in evidence later in the year. 



Mr. Charles L. Smith related a very curious fact, 

 bearing upon the mental capacity of the Coyote. He 

 said that already the Coyotes of the Elk Valley have so 

 well learned the deadly character of traps and poison 

 that now it is almost impossible to kill a wolf with either. 

 So very wise and suspicious are the Coyotes now that a 

 hunter may hang up a dressed carcass of a deer, and leave 

 it in the woods, actually surrounded by hungry wolves, — 



