168 FLESH-EATERS OF THE LAND 



little staked inclosure, in which is placed the bait, with a 

 log of wood or a big stone overhanging it. The moment 

 the bait is touched, down falls the weight, which kills the 

 intruder at a blow. A hunter will often set a hundred 

 and fifty traps in a line extending for perhaps fifty miles. 

 When he goes to collect his spoils, he often finds that a 

 Wolverene, Arctic Fox, or other hungry carnivore has 

 forestalled him, the first named, in particular, not only 

 eating the captured animals, but artfully annexing the 

 baits from the still fixed traps by taking them from the 

 rear, and thus avoiding the falling log. To add an element 

 of danger to the injury, the greedy beast not infrequently 

 discovers the hunter's cache, or provision store. It will 

 eat every bit of animal food, such as beef, pork, bacon, 

 and venison ; and other food, as flour, oatmeal, &c., it will 

 scatter about in the snow, thus leaving the trapper food- 

 less in a region where the thermometer registers many 

 degrees below zero. 



GLUTTON (Gulo luscus). 

 Coloured Plate X. Fig. 4. 



The Glutton, as it is called in Europe, and Wolverene in 

 America, the largest of the Weasel group, is not at all unlike 

 a small bear. It is found in the northern regions of both 

 the Old and the New World. Its bulky body is nearly 

 three feet long, exclusive of the thick, bushy tail. The 

 fur is long and of a fine, deep chestnut colour, with 

 a dark saddle on the back ; its sides are a pale reddish- 

 brown. 



The feet are large and hairy and furnished with strong, 

 curved claws. The motion of the animal is slow and 

 clumsy, semi-plantigrade, and altogether in marked con- 

 trast to the movements of the true Weasels, which are 

 Digitigrades. It is often stated that the Wolverene climbs 

 trees, from which it leaps to the throats of animals as big 

 as the Reindeer, whereas the animal is not at all a good 

 climber. 



The Glutton is sufficiently bad in character without 



