ENCAMPMENT IN THE WILDERNESS 101 



the smaller beasts of prey, and are so wily that when 

 once they have discovered that hunters are established 

 in a tract they will forsake it. It is useless to try to 

 shoot them otherwise than by lying in concealment at 

 places they are supposed to frequent. They cannot be 

 ferreted out of the caverns and holes which they usually 

 occupy, for they will kill dogs, and their dens are always 

 so well selected that they cannot be dug out. Their 

 habits are just those of bears, but superficially they 

 strongly resemble hyenas. They are only met with 

 singly, or in pairs, or a dam with her cubs. The latter 

 are two or three in number. Like bears, they are almost 

 omnivorous, and are in the habit of burying their prey ; 

 but they do not eat fruits that I am aware of. If they 

 come across the hidden store of a hunter, or sneak into 

 his hut during his absence, they will devour all sorts of 

 provisions biscuit, grease of all kinds, cheese, meat, and 

 fish. They sometimes catch the latter for themselves. 

 They are about as big as a medium-sized dog ; that is, 

 they average thirty inches in length from the snout to 

 the root of the tail, and the latter is a foot long, and 

 bushy ; and the hair is very long on the bottom of the 

 back and on the under parts, so that the legs are half 

 hidden. 



They are very active animals, but capture their prey 

 as much by artifice as speed, and they lie in wait near the 

 holes of such creatures as ermines, martens, musquashes, 

 and minks, which form a large share of their prey. They 

 also surprise hares, and rob foxes of their captured 

 prey. The latter susprise many birds of the grouse 

 and duck family, but I do not know that the glutton 

 does. If the fox should happen to defend its prey 

 which I have known it to do when several are together 

 it is ten to one but a fox itself is killed and devoured 

 by the glutton: and I have known a case where one 

 dug down to the buried prey of a bear, and another 

 instance of a sheep having been destroyed and partially 



