THE WOLVERINE. 



By C. a. Cooper (" Sibyllene "). 



(XCEPT to naturalists and dwellers in the Arctic 

 regions, the characteristics of the Wolverine are but 

 slightly known. In the temperate and torrid zones, 

 we find people able to minutely describe the hoop- 

 snake; but ask these people, or even their better-informed 

 neighbors, what they know about the Wolverine, and if 

 you do not get the answer, " Well, there are plenty of them 

 in Michigan, but I never happened to see one," you will 

 probably be given some of the fifteenth-century theories of 

 Olaus Magnus, a better archbishop than naturalist, whose 

 writings upon this animal have been handed down with 

 clock-work regularity. 



Naturally, there are various causes for this lack of 

 knowledge, the first and foremost being that the Wolverine 

 has virtually been exterminated within the borders of the 

 United States. Even in the "good old days" there were 

 comparatively few of them. 



The menageries and zoological gardens know him not, 

 and his stuft'ed form is i)rincipally noted for its absence 

 from a majority of the museums throughout the land. 

 Were it not for the frequent revival of the name, through 

 Michigan being known as the Wolverine State, the fact 

 that such an animal exists would be unknown to a majority 

 of the busy people of this continent. 



Being nocturnal, wary, and solitary in habit, it is not 

 surprising that the Wolverine is so seldom seen; esx)ecially 

 as it now inhabits only the boreal regions, or the most 

 secluded portions of elevated forests in the north temper- 

 ate zone. With the exception of one or two points in 

 British America, it can not be said to have been abundant 



(479) 



