338 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



The fur of the wolverene is highly valued both by civil- 

 ized and uncivilized people. A number of skins sewn 

 together makes a very beautiful carriage robe. The Indians 

 and Esquimaux use the fur as they do that of the wolf, 

 for fringing their garments, the skin being cut in strips 

 for this purpose. 



The wolverene is an animal of circumpolar distribution 

 in both hemispheres. In North America it exists in all 

 suitable countries north of the United States to the Arctic 

 coast; its southern limit has been fixed more properly 

 between 42° and 43° ; this is probably nearly correct for 

 the eastern portions of the continent, aside from what re- 

 cession of the species northward may have recently occur- 

 red, although, as we shall see* the species reaches farther 

 south in the west. In Massachusetts, according to Mr. Allen, 

 it still lingered a few years since in that portion where the 

 Canadian, as distinguished tor the Alleghanian, fauna is re- 

 presented. But the Massachusetts reports are all probably 

 traceable to a Hoosac mountain record some years prior. 

 Dr. Hitchcock and Dr. DeK&y both quote Dr. Emmons for 

 this, although the species is not given in the latter's report. 

 In New York it was rare in the time of Audubon and 

 DeKay; the former notes specimens from Renssalaer (1810), 

 and Jefferson (1827) counties. Dr. Thompson, writing in 1853, 

 states that it was then extremely rare in Vermont, none 

 having been met with to his knowledge for several years. 

 Though occasionally fcund when the country was new in 

 all parts of* the State it was never very plentiful, and for 

 years had been known only in the most wooded%nd un- 

 settled parts. I have met with but few record of its pres- 

 ence in the United States west of New York to the Rocky 

 Mountains, though it is to be presumed that it inhabits, 

 or has lately done so, the wooded portions of our northern 

 frontier. Maximilian speaks (/. e.) of the occurrence of 

 the species on the western border of Canada, and near the 

 mouth of the Red River of the north, and surmises that the 

 species may extend to the Missouri river, especially as 

 he saw a skin, but without indication of locality, at one 

 of the trading posts. I never saw the wolveiene in Da- 

 kota or Montana, where most of the country is altogether 

 too open. Baird, however, speaks of its occasional occur- 

 rence in the Black Hills, and registers a specimen from 

 "Northwest of Fort Union"* (probably Montana, towards 

 the base of the Rocky Mountains); aud Mr C. II. Merriam 

 procured a specimen on the Yellowstone river, Wyoming, 

 in August, 1872. 



In the Rocky Mountains, as was to have been expected, 

 its extension southward has been traced to the furthest 

 known point, between 39° and 4.0°. Prof. Baird notes a 

 specimen obtained by Captain Stansbury from the Great 

 Salt Lake, Utah, which lies wholly south of 42°. It is 

 probable that its extreme limit is even somewhat further 

 than this, reaching in the mountains to the borders cf 

 Arizona and New Mexico, and corresponding latitudes in 

 California. Of this I was assured by hunters, whose 

 statements I had no reason to doubt, and who were evi- 

 dently acquainted with the species. But I could not con- 

 firm their statements by actual observation, and, for all 

 that is positively known, the Salt Lake record remains the 

 southernmost, excepting that very recently furnish- 

 ed by Mr. Allen. He saw tbe skin of an individual 

 taken in the vicinity of Montgomery, Colorado, near the 

 limit of timber, and the animal was stated to be not un- 

 common. This locality is somewhat south of 40°, and the 

 occurrence is strongly corroborative of the accounts I re- 

 ceived, as just mentioned. I have no record from the 

 region west of the main chain of the Rockies in Oregon 

 or Washington Territories, although it is not to be pre- 

 sumed, upon this negative evidence, that the species does 

 .not occur there. 



The wolverene ranges, as we have seen, in greater or 

 less abundance all over the northern portions of this 

 country. It appears to be particularly numerous in the 

 Mackenzie river region, and it fairly infests the whole 

 country bordering the lower portions of the river and the 

 west side of the mountains. From this country many ac- 

 counts have reached me, from various officers of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, through the liberality of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, which placed in my hands all the 

 matter represented in its archives upon the animals of the 

 far north. These manuscripts witness the wonderful 

 cunning and sagacity of the beast, as well as its ferocity; 

 and represent it as the greatest enemy with which the 

 hunter's and trappers have to contend in the pursuit of 

 fur-bearing animals. Macfarlane, Ross and Lockhart, have 

 each recorded their experiences, which together afford the 

 material for a complete biography. 



The hunter, says Mr. Lockhart, may safely leave an 

 animal he has killed for one night, but never for a second 

 time without placing it in a strong cache of logs. The 

 first night the wolverene is pretty sure to visit the place, 

 but will touch nothing. The next night he is certain to 

 return, and if he can possibly get at the meat he will gorge 

 himself and then make away with the rest, which he 

 cunningly hides, piece by piece, under the snow in differ- 

 ent directions. At every c&che he makes he voids his 

 urine or drops his dirt, probably to prevent foxes, martens, 

 or other animals, from smelling the hidden meat and digging 

 it up. Caches must be made of green wood and exceed- 

 ingly strong, or the animal will certainly break into them; 

 he has been known to gnaw through a log nemiy a foot in 

 diameter, and also to dig a hole several feet deep in frozen 

 ground, 'ogain access to the coveted supply. Should he 

 succeed in gaining entrance for himself, and yet be unable 



*This locality (Fort Union) frequently mentioned in tbc works of Au- 

 dubon, Band and others, no longer exists as such, being now a heap of 

 rubbish; it ja replaced by Fort Buford, commanding tbe mouth of the 

 Yellowstone, at tbe extreme southwest corner of Dakota, adjoining the 

 aontheaBc corner of Montana, 



to displace the logs sufficiently to permit of removal ©f 

 the meat, the brute will make water and dirt all over it, 

 rendering it wholly unfit to be used. Even a dog will then 

 scarcely touch it. 



To the trapper the wolverenes are equally annoying. 

 When they have discovered a line of marten traps they 

 will never abandon the road, and must be killed before the 

 trapping can be successfully carried on. Beginning at one 

 end, they proceed from trap to trap along the whole line, 

 pulling them successively to pieces and taking out the baits 

 from behind. When they can eat no more, they continue 

 to steal the baits and c^che them. If hungry, they may 

 devour two or three of the martens they find captured, the 

 remainder being carried off and hidden in the snow at a 

 considerable distance. The work of demolition goes on as 

 fast as the traps can be renewed. 



The propensity to steal and hide thisgs is one of the 

 strongest traits of the wolverene; to such an extent is it de- 

 veloped that the animal will often secrete articles of no 

 possible use to itself. Besides the wanton destruction ©f 

 marten traps, it will carry off the sticks and hide them at a 

 distance, apparently in sheer malice. Mr. Ross, in an 

 interesting article, has given an amusing instance of the 

 extreme of this propensity. "The desire for accumulating 

 property seems so deeply implanted in this animal, that, 

 like tame ravens, it does not appear to care much what it 

 steals so that it can exercise its favorite propensity to 

 commit mischief. An instance occurred within my own 

 knowledge, in which a hunter and his family having left 

 their lodge unguarded during their absence, on their re- 

 turn found it completely gutted — the walls were there but 

 nothing else. Blankets, guns, kettles, axes, cans, knives, 

 and all the other paraphernalia of a trapper's tent had 

 vanished, and the tracks left by the beast showed who had 

 been the thief. The family set to work, and by carefully 

 following up all his paths recovered, with some trifling ex- 

 ceptions, the whole of the lost property." 



Though very clumsy animals, the wolverenes manage to 

 capture at times such prey as hares and grouse, and they suc- 

 cessfully attack disabled deer. We have already seen how 

 they destroy foxes in their burrows, and they are usually 

 found in excellent condition. They also feed on offal or 

 carrion — in fact anything they can catch or steal. Tneir 

 own flesh is only eatable in the extreme of starvation. 

 They bring forth in burrows under ground, probably old 

 bear-washes, and have four or five young at a birth. It is 

 very rarely that the}?" are discovered at this period or while 

 suckling their young. One reason, however, may be that 

 they reproduce late in June and early in July, when the 

 mosquitoes are so numerous that no one who can avoid it 

 goes abroad in the woods. The rutting season is in the 

 latter part of March. The female is ferocious in the defense 

 of her young, and if disturbed at this time will not hesitate 

 to attack a man. Indeed, Indians have been heard to aver 

 that they would sooner encounter, a she bear with her cubs 

 than a carcajou under the same circumstancos. In Oc- 

 tober, when the rivers set fast, the wolverene's re-appear in 

 families, the young still following their dam, though now 

 not much her inferior in size. They are full grown when 

 about a year old. In early infancy the cubs are said to be 

 of a very pale color. 



The wolverene may be captured in wooden traps similar 

 to those used for martens, but of course made on a much 

 larger scale, as the animal's strength is enormous, even for 

 its size. The traps are sometimes built with two doors. But 

 so great is the cunning and sagacity of the beast, that the 

 contiivance for its destruction must be very perfect. The 

 traps are covered up with pine brush, and made to re- 

 semble a cftche as much as possible; the wolverine is then 

 likely to break in and get caught. The bait, ordinarily the 

 conspicuous feature of a trap, must in this instance, be 

 concealed, or the animal will either break in from behind, 

 or failing in this, will pass on his way. It is sometimes 

 also taken in steel traps, or by means of a set gun ; but both 

 these methods are uncertain, great "medicine" being re 

 quired to outwit the knowing and suspicious beast. The 

 eyesight of the wolverene is not very bright, but his sense 

 of smell is extremely acute. 



"The winter I passed at Fort Simpson," writes Mr. 

 Lockhart, "I nad a line of marten and fox traps and lynx 

 snares, extending as far as Lac de Brochet. Visiting them 

 on one occasion, I found a lynx alive in one of my snares; 

 and being indisposed to carry it so far home, determined 

 to kill and skin it before it should freeze. But how to 

 cache the skin till my return? This was a serious question, 

 for carcajou tracks were numerous. Placing the carcass as 

 a decoy in a clump of willows at one side of the path, I 

 went some distance on the opposite side, dug a hole with 

 my snow shoe about thiee feet deep in the snow, packed 

 the skin in the smallest possible compass, and put it in the 

 bottom of the hole, which I filled up again very carefully, 

 packing the snow down hard, and then strewing loose snow 

 over the surface till the spot looked as if it had never been 

 disturbed. I also strewed blood and entrails in the path 

 and around the willows. Returning next morning, I found 

 that the carcass was gone, as I expected it would be, but 

 that the place where the skin was cached was apparently 

 undisturbed. 'Ah! you rascal,' said I, addressing aloud 

 the carcajou, 'I have outwitted you for once.' I lighted 

 my pipe, and proceeded leisurely to dig up the skin to 

 place m my muskimoot. I went clear down to the 

 ground, on this side and on that, but no lynx skin was 

 there. The carcajou had been before me, and had carried 

 it off along with the carcass; but he had taken the pains 

 to fill up the hole again and make everything as smooth as 

 before. 

 "At Peel's River, on one occasion, a wily old carcajou 



discovered my marten road, on which I had nearly a 

 hundred and fifty traps. I was in the habit of visiting 

 the line about once a fortnight; but the beast fell into the 

 way of coming oftener than I did, to my great annoyance 

 and vexation. I determined to put a stop to his thieving 

 and his life together, cost what it might. Sol made six 

 strong traps at as many different points, and also sot three 

 steel traps. For three weeks I tried my best to catch the 

 beast without success; and my worst enemy would allow 

 that I am no green hand in these matters. The animal 

 carefully avoided the traps set for his own benefit, and 

 seemed to be taking more delight than ever in demolishing 

 my marten traps and eating the martens, scattering the 

 poles in every direction, and caching what baits or martens 

 he did not devour on the spot. As we had no poison in 

 those day's, I next set a gun on the bank of a little lake. 

 The gun was concealed in some low bushes, but th» bait 

 was so placed that the carcajou must see it on his way up 

 the bank. I blockaded my path to the gun with a small 

 pine tree which completely hid it. On my first visit after- 

 ward I found that the beast had gone up to the bait and 

 smelled it, but had left it untouched. He had next pulled 

 up the pine tree that blocked the path, and gone around the 

 gun and cut the line which connected the bait with the 

 trigger, just behind the muzzle. Then he had gone hack 

 and pulled the bait away, and carried it out on the lake 

 where he laid down and devoured it at his leisure. There 

 I found my string, I could scarcely believe that all this 

 had been done designedly, for it seemed that faculties fully 

 on a par with human reason would be required for such an 

 exploit, if done intentionally. I therefore re-arranged 

 things, tying the string where it had been bitten. But the 

 result was exactly the same, for three successive occasions, 

 as I could plainly see by the footprints; and what is most 

 singular of all, each time the brute was careful to cut tbe 

 line a little back of where it had been tied before, as if 

 actually reasoning with himself that even the knots might 

 be some new device of mine, and therefore a source of 

 hidden danger he would prudently avoid. I came to the 

 conclusion that that carcajou ought to live, as he must be 

 something at least human, if not more. I gave it up, anl 

 abandoned the road for a period. 



"On another occasion a carcajon amused himself, much 

 as usual, by tracking my line from one end to the other 

 and demolishing my traps as fast as I could set them. I 

 put a large steel trap in the middle of a path that branched 

 off among some willows, spreading no bait, but risking the 

 chance that the animal would 'put his foot in it' on his 

 way to break a trap at the end of the path. On my next 

 visit I found that the trap was gone, but I noticed the 

 blood and entrails of a hare that had evidently been caught 

 in the trap and devoured by the carcajou on the spot. Ex- 

 amining his footprints I was satisfied that he had not been 

 caught, and I took up his trail. Proceeding about a mile 

 through the woods I came to a small lake, on the banks of 

 which I recognized traces of the trap which the beast had 

 laid down in order to go a few steps to one side to make 

 water on a stump. He had then returned and picked up 

 the trap, which he had carried across the lake, with many 

 a twist and turn on the hard crust of snow to mislead his 

 expected pursuer, and then again entered the woods. I 

 followed for about half a mile further and then came to a 

 large hole dug in the snow. This place, however, seemed 

 not to have suited him, for there was nothing there. 

 A few yards further on, however, I found a neatly built 

 mound of snow, on which the animal had made water and 

 left his dirt; this I knew was his c&che. Using one of my 

 snow shoes for a spade I dug into the hillock and down to 

 the ground, the snow being about four feet deep; and there 

 I found my trap, with the toes of a rabbit still in the jaws. 

 Could it have been the animal's instinctive impulse to hide 

 prey, that made him carry my trap so far merely for the 

 morsel of meat still held in it? Or, did his cunning nature 

 prompt him to hide the trap, for fear that on some future 

 unlucky occasion he might put his own toes in it and share 

 the rabbit's fate?" 



This propensity of the wolverene to carry off traps re- 

 ceives confirmation from other sources. In Captain Cart- 

 wright's Journal (II, 407) a similar instance is recorded in 

 the following terms; "In coming to the foot of Tabee Hill 

 I crossed the track of a wolvering with one of Mr. Calling- 

 ham's traps on his foot; the foxes had followed his bleed- 

 ing track. As this beast went through the thick of the 

 woods, under the north side of the hill, where the snow 

 was so deep and light that it was with the greatest diffi- 

 culty I could follow 'him even on Indian rackets, I was 

 quite puzzled to know how he had contrived to prevent tbe 

 trap from catching hold of the branches of trees or sinking 

 in the snow. But on coming up with him I discovered 

 how he had managed; for after making an attempt to fly 

 at me he took the trap in his mouth and ran upon three 

 legs. These creatures are surprisingly strong in proportion 

 to their size; this one weighed only 26 pounds and the trap 

 eight, yet including all the turns he had takem he had car- 

 ried it six miles." 



The ferocity of the wolverene, no less than its ennning, 

 is illustrated in some of the endless occasions on which it 

 matches its powers against those of its worst enemy. 

 A man had set a gun for a carcajou which had been on 

 its usual round of demolition of marten traps. The ani- 

 mals seized the bait unvarily, and set off the gun; bnt 

 owing to careless or improper setting, the charge missed or 

 only wounded it. The carcajou rushed upon the weapon, 

 tore it from its fastenings and chewed the stock to pieces. 

 It is added to the account of the exploit that the beast 

 finished by planting the barrels muzzle downward, upright 

 in the snow; but this may not be fully credited, The 



