BADGERS AND WOLVERENES 



109 



gross exaggeration. We find it gravely stated that this 

 brute will feast upon the carcass of some large animal 

 until its belly is swollen as tight as a drum, and then get 

 rid of its burden by squeezing itself between two trees, 

 in order that it may return to glut itself anew an al- 

 leged climax of gluttony to which no four-footed beast 

 attains. We read how the Glutton, too clumsy and tardy 

 of foot to overtake large animals, betakes itself to the 



lichens to attract its prey, and to employ the friendly 

 services of Foxes to drive the quarry beneath the fatal 

 spot. I allude to these things, not that such gross ex- 

 aggerations longer require refutation, but because they 

 are a part, and no inconsiderable one, of the history of 

 the species ; and because, as we shall see in the sequel, 

 a perfectly temperate and truthful narration of the crea- 

 ture's actual habits sufficiently attests the possession of 



TWO VIEWS OF THE WOLVERENE IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK CITY 



These excellent representations are of the same mounted animal, giving the characters with great fidelity. The prints were 

 made especially for American Forestry, and presented by the Director of the Museum. 



trees beneath which they may pass, and there crouches 

 in wait for its victim ; it drops like a shot upon the un- 

 suspecting Elk, Moose, Reindeer, and, fastening with 

 claws and teeth, sucks the blood and destroys them as 

 they run. That nothing may be left undone to ensure 

 success, the animal has the wit to throw down moss or 



really remarkable qualities, which may need be but cari- 

 catured for transformation into just such fables. We 

 may remember, also, that the history of the wolverene 

 is mixed in some cases with that of other animals, some 

 of whose habits have been attributed to it." 

 Buffon, who was very much given to exaggerated ac- 



