188 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Surprising as this seems, Rhoads (1903, p. 165), from his 

 knowledge of the men who told it to him, had faith in the truth 

 of this occurrence. The animal was said to have been caught 

 in a wolf trap. Wolverenes formerly were found in the forests 

 of New Brunswick but seem to have disappeared quickly. 

 Chamberlain (1884) mentions in his "Mammals of New 

 Brunswick" that about 1850 "it was occasionally met with; 

 but no recent instance of its occurrence is known." In the 

 Province of Quebec the wolverene "has become extinct or 

 very rare in the more southern districts, but is found in small 

 numbers in northern Quebec. It is more commonly found in 

 wooded districts, but frequently wanders far into the Barren 

 Grounds of the north and even occasionally to the Arctic 

 islands" where, Dr. Anderson (1935, 1939) writes, it has been re- 

 corded from Victoria, King William, and Melville Islands, and 

 it occurs fairly commonly in the region of Repulse Bay. 

 Several times it has been taken within 30 miles of Pond Inlet. 

 "The comparative scarcity of the Wolverene in the southern 

 half of Baffin Island, and the relative frequency at the northern 

 end of the island, is good evidence that they come to Baffin 

 island by way of Melville peninsula. " It still is found in small 

 numbers in the Labrador Peninsula but probably seldom now 

 in the southern part where Cartwright found it a century and 

 a half ago. Audubon and Bachman (1846) mention having 

 seen specimens "procured at Newfoundland," but it may well 

 be doubted if they were trapped there. At all events there 

 seems to be no evidence that wolverenes occurred on that 

 island within the memory of living men. 



Westward along the northern border of the United States 

 wolverenes were formerly present in small numbers. Cory 

 (1912) writes that "old trappers living in the vicinity of 

 Champion, Michigan, claim that wolverines were occasionally 

 killed in that locality, 30 or 35 years ago" but quotes Edward 

 G. Kingsford, of Iron Mountain, Mich., who was much in the 

 woods of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota be- 

 tween 1880 and 1900, to the effect that the Rainey Lake dis- 

 trict in the last-named State was the nearest to Michigan he 

 had ever known of one being killed. Schorger (1939) has 

 lately unearthed, however, what seems a "satisfactory record" 

 of one trapped on February 15, 1860, by a man living at 

 Marquette, Lake Superior, in the northern peninsula of Michi- 



