286 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



toms of great ferocity. It eat voraciously ; and 

 after a fall meal, covered itself in its cage with 

 straw. It eat no bread, but would devour more 

 than four pounds of flesh every day, which it swal- 

 lowed greedily, almost without chewing. 



In a state of liberty, it is said to lead a life of 

 continual rapine. It lurks in the branches of trees, 

 in order to surprise Deer and other animals that 

 pass under them. It waits with great patience the 

 arrival of its prey, and darts from its hiding-place 

 with unerring certainty. In this manner it indis- 

 criminately surprises the Horse, the Elk, the Stag, 

 and the Rein-Deer, and fixes itself between their 

 shoulders with its teeth and claws. 



The wild Rein-Deer, which are numerous both 

 in Lapland and North America, frequently fall vic- 

 tims to the Glutton. When seized by this blood- 

 thirsty animal, it is in vain that the wounded Deer 

 endeavours to disengage itself from its enemy by 

 rushing among the branches of the trees : no force 

 can oblige it to quit its hold: it maintains its posi- 

 tion, and continues to suck the blood of the flying 

 animal till it falls down exhausted with pain and 

 fatigue. It then devours the carcase with insatiable 

 voracity, and gorges itself Avith the flesh till it is 

 almost in danger of bursting. 



In Kamschatka, the Glutton makes use of a sin- 

 gular stratagem for killing the Fallow-Deer. It 

 climbs up a tree, taking with it a quantity of that 

 s pecies of moss of w 7 hich the Deer is very fond 

 When one of them approaches the tree, the Glutton 

 throws down the moss ; and if the Deer stop to eat, 

 the Glutton darts upon its back, and fixing itself 

 firmly between its horns, tears out its eyes, and by 

 that means secures its prey. It then divides the 



