THE RACCOON. llii) 



The wolvereno is the fur- trapper's ^Teatest foe. and. as may 

 be supposed, he lias no mercy shown liim. The ennninL;- 

 creature, moreover, in spite of Ids cleverness, sometimes oets 

 cauo'ht. Mr. Paul Kane, in one of his journevs across the 

 country, liad left a cache composed of lo^s huilt together, 

 somethino; like a loi:>--house, but not verA' closely tittcil. 

 Impelled l)y hunger after a lojig journey, he and his com- 

 |)anion on their Avay back reached their cache, and began 

 throwino- off the h(\avy logs which covered the top and con- 

 cealed it. The Indian, hearing a great disturbance within, 

 called to Mr. Kane to fetch the guns. Just as he got u\), a 

 line fat wolverene jumped out, but was immediately shot 

 down. The creature must have been starved and desperately 

 thin to have squeezed himself through the openings l)etweeu 

 the logs, and no doubt, impelled by hunger and the smell of 

 the meat inside, had not thought much of a slight squeeze. 

 When, however, he was once in, and had enjoyed a few good 

 meals, he could not o-et out aoain, and the idea of starvino- 

 himself as long as the meat lasted did not ap])ear to have 

 occurred to him. 



The disappointment to the hungry travellers was very 

 great, as but little food was left, and that was mangled, torn, 

 and tossed about in the dirt l^v the animal. 



THE RACrOOX. 



To obtain a satisfactory sio-ht of the raccoon, we must set 

 out into the forest by torchlight, accompanied by dogs, with 

 fowling-] )iece in hand. As he remains during the dav in 

 some hollow tree, it is rarely we can get a good view of him. 

 Even if by chance found on the oi-ound. he ascends the tree so 

 rai)idlv, that he is stowed awav before our riile can reach the 



