THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 673 



The reindeer's food consists almost wholly of moss, which lies 

 deep under the snow. Nature has provided this animal with such 

 a marvelous instinct that however deeply his food may be covered 

 by snow he unerringly finds it by smelling along the surface. 



The reindeer attains an age of from twenty to twenty-five 

 years, but in its domesticated state it is generally killed when 

 from six to ten years old. Its most dangerous enemies are the 

 wolf and the glutton, or wolverine, which belongs to the blood- 

 thirsty marten and weasel family, and is said to be of uncommon 

 fierceness and strength. It is about the size of a large badger , 



C- C ^, ' 



between which animal and the pole-cat it seems to be interme- 

 diate, nearly resembling the former in its general figure and 

 aspect, and agreeing with the latter as to its dentition. No dog 

 is capable of mastering a glutton, and even the wolf is hardly 

 able to scare it from its prey. Its feet are very short, so that it 

 cannot run swiftly, but it climbs with great facility upon trees, 

 or ascends even almost perpendicular rock-walls, where it also 

 seeks a refuge when pursued. 



When it perceives a herd of reindeer browsing near a wood or 

 a precipice, it generally lies in wait upon a branch or some high 

 cliff, and springs down upon the first animal that comes within 

 its reach. Sometimes, also, it steals unawares upon its prey, and 

 suddenly bounding upon its back kills it by a single bite in the 

 neck. Many fables worthy of Munchausen have been told about 

 its voracity ; for instance, that it is able to devour two reindeer 

 at one meal, and that when its stomach is exorbitantly distended 

 with food, it will press itself between two trees or stones to 

 make room for a new repast. It will, indeed, kill in one night 

 six or eight reindeer, but it contents itself with sucking their 

 blood, as the weasel does with fowls, and eats no more at one 

 meal than any other carnivorous animal of its size. 



Besides this voracious enemy the reindeer has two others, both 

 of which are a species of gad-fly. One of these deposits its 

 eggs in the back of the animal, where a larvae soon develops, 

 producing a bad sore. The other lays its eggs in the reindeer's 

 nose, where the larvae bore their way into the fauces and under the 

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