80 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



ing an American hare_, which was at the same time pur- 

 sued by a snowy owl." In its gait it resembles the 

 bear, and is not fleet ; but it is very industrious, and no 

 doubt feeds well, as it is generally fat. It is much 

 abroad during winter, and its track over the snow in a 

 single night, may be often traced for many miles. Its legs 

 being short, its progress through the loose snow is dif- 

 ficult; but when it falls upon the beaten track of a marten 

 trapper, it will pursue it for a long way. Mr. Graham 

 confirms this singular habit of the wolverine destroying 

 the traps, which it certainly could never have learned 

 before these regions were inhabited by the fur traders. 

 '' The wolverines," observes Mr. Graham, in his un- 

 published MSS.* ^' are extremely mischievous, and do 

 more damage to the small fur trade, than all the other 

 rapacious animals conjointly. They will follow the 

 marten hunter's path round a line of traps extending 

 forty, fiftyj, or sixty miles, merely to come at the baits, 

 and thus render the whole unserviceable. They are not 

 fond of the martens themselves, but never fail of tearing 

 them in pieces, or of burying them in the snow by the 

 side of the path, at a considerable distance from the 

 trap. Drifts of snow often conceal these repositories, thus 

 made by the martens^ from the hunter ; in which case 

 they furnish a regale to the hungry fox, whose saga- 

 cious nostril guides him unerringly to the spot. Two 

 or three foxes are often seen following the wolverine 

 for this purpose." 



Dr. Richardson remarks, that the wolverine is said 

 to destroy great numbers of beavers; but it must be only 

 in the summer, when those industrious animals are at 

 work on land, that it can surprise them. An attempt 

 to break open their houses in winter, even supposing it 

 possible for the claws of a wolverine to penetrate the 

 thick mud walls when frozen as hard as stone, would 

 only have the effect of driving the beavers into the 

 water, to seek for shelter in their vaults on the borders 

 of the dam. The wolverine, although said to defend 



* Cited by Dr. Richardson. 



