20 THE FOOD OF ANIMALS 



animal hunts his chief victim, the seal, and the following quo- 

 tation from S. M'Tavish (in The Big Game of North America) 

 will serve as a typical example: — "Their modus operandi of 

 catching the seal is as follows: — The bear having discovered a 

 seal asleep on an ice-floe, immediately slips into the water if he 

 himself be on another ice-floe. Alternately diving and swimming, 

 he approaches close to his victim. Before his final disappearance 

 he seems to measure the intervening distance, and when he next 

 appears it is alongside of the seal. Then, either getting on the 

 ice or pouncing upon the seal as it tries to escape, he secures it." 

 Those who wish a graphic account of the Polar Bear at home 

 should peruse Nansen's Farthest North, though this will be 

 superfluous advice for most readers. 



Passing by the Raccoons and other Small Bears, which are 

 for the most part as omnivorous as the majority of their larger 

 relatives, the last group of allied terrestrial Carnivores to demand 

 attention is that of the Weasels, which are among the most blood- 

 thirsty animals in existence. The largest species, and one which 

 approaches the Bears in many points, is the Glutton or Wolverene 

 {Gtdo luscus), an inhabitant of the northerly parts of both Old 

 and New Worlds. The scientific name of this creature is a very 

 good example of the absurdities often involved in such terms. 

 The generic appellation, Gido (Lat. glutton), is not very happy, 

 and distinctly slanderous, for though the animal is decidedly 

 voracious it has no claim to be picked out as a type and emblem 

 of excess in the pleasures of the table, though the old zoologists 

 thought so, and promulgated some extraordinary stories on this 

 head, some of which betray a lively though somewhat coarse 

 imagination. But the specific name, luscus (Lat. one-eyed), is 

 absurd in the extreme, and was given because the first described 

 specimen had accidentally lost an optic. The Glutton is a noted 

 destroyer of many sorts of game, and has even been known to 

 attack reindeer. Significant testimony to his destructive powers 

 is found in the fact that in Norway the same government premium 

 [i.e. 20 kroner = about ^i, 2s. 6d.) is paid for his carcass as for that 

 of a bear or wolf He can both climb and swim, and has a well- 

 earned reputation for cunning, his talents in that direction causing 

 great annoyance to the North American trappers, whose traps 

 he systematically robs. The depredations of the Glutton are 

 much aided by his dull-brown colour and stealthy nocturnal habits. 



