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Show THEY SAY HE'S BRAINY. THE WOLVERINE HASTHAT REPUTATION. REP-UTATION. Human Intelligence anil Hag-sclfy are Ki'rlally Notlreahlo In the Animal Ani-mal Several IfiterentlliK Wolverine htories. Human intelligence and sagacity are more nearly reached by tho wolverine lhan by any other animal on the globe, and It would not be difficult to prove this. But to place it above the elephant ele-phant and the anthropoid apes of the Did World may be too bold a step, and we may content ourselves with claiming claim-ing for it the supremacy among animals ani-mals indigenous to the western hemisphere. hemi-sphere. 9t the almost phenomenal keenness of wit possessed by this animal we may cite a few instances not tho wild stories of irresponsible hunters, but fully authenticated. It is a common habit of the wolverino to spring a baited trap without being itself caught, although no person has ever succeeded in dotocting tho method by which this is accomplished. A trapper in tho far north, finding that the bait was stolen from a long line of traps faster than he could attend to them, resolved to entrap en-trap the wary thief. Deadfalls and pit-traps were of no avail. Tho wolverine wol-verine sprung t he former by methods known only to himself, and after digging dig-ging up tho bait from the hitler he tilled up the pits with stones and rubbish. rub-bish. As a last resort the trapper set a loaded gun aimed at the bait that was fastened to a string connected with tbo trigger. Any other four-footed thiof would have received' in his hido tho contents of the gun. But the wolverine wolver-ine knew a "trick worth two of that." His tracks in the snow afterwards his prodigious strength; and it Is aques-tion aques-tion which of these two faculties we may most admire. Ono has been known to lift tho end of a log more than twelve inches in diameter in order to get at a trap set in a hole in frozen ground under tho log. Another carried car-ried for several miles a trap weighing twelve pounds fastened to its forefoot, dragging after it a log -chain six feet long, running on throo feet, clambering clamber-ing over fallen timber, through thick brush and up and down steep and rocky hills. Still another has been known to drng the carcass of a full-grown full-grown deer a hundred feet to a place of concealment. Tho wonderful fighting qualities ol the wolverine must not be passed in silence. In this line his record is unrivaled. un-rivaled. It is rarely that the northern wildcat, tho Canada lynx, gets away from two powerful hounds. But a wolverine has been known to whip two sik'h dogs in short order, fighting badger-like on its back, and using its teeth so effectively that ono of the dogs has been disabled for life. When brought to bay, tho wolverine exhibits surprising courage; and there is every reason to believe that it is seldom sel-dom or nover molested by largor beasts of prey. A wolf would always come off second best from an encounter with a wolverine; a bear could not hope to overtake it, while a panther, being a natural coward, would hardly care to meddlo with a champion that can boast so formidable an armory of teeth. To sum up tho striking characteristics characteris-tics of our little hero, we may claim that ho has never received the meed of praise to which ho is entitled. His strength, agility, courago, independence, independ-ence, and, to crown all, his wonderful sagacity so closely allied to human reason, clearly placo hiin in the position posi-tion we have claimed for him as the brainiest of American quadrupeds. showed that he had examined mo bait without touching it, had then gone around back of tho gun, and after cutting tho string in several places, had returned to the bait, and carried it off in triumph. He had fairly earned it, and that trapper never molested him again. Another hunter, finding tho string attached to the trigger of his trap gun cut by a wolverine, substituted a small chain for the string. The animal, ani-mal, in attempting to cut tho chain, lired off the gun ami then carried off the bait. Becoming reckless he afterwards after-wards discharged another traD-gun and was slightly wounded. Enraged by the smarting pain, ho sprung upon tho gun with teeth and claws, tore the wooden stock almost to pieces and then dragged the gun half a mile away. A hunter had killed a wildcat, and, being already loaded with as much ns ho could carry, he buriod the skin deep in the snow Bnd piled the hole over with brush, leaving the carcass exposed near by. When lie returned tho next day he found the carcass gone, as he had expected, but the pile of brush looked exactly as ho had left it. Feeling Feel-ing certain that ho would find tho skin he dug down and around for several yards, but unsuccessfully. Seeing tracks of a wolverine about the spot he followed them to a littlo cave, whero he found the catskin intact. If we compare with these the recorded record-ed exploits of other quadrupeds we shall still find tho wolverine ahead. A dog has been known to wash from his jaws the bloody evidence of a sheep-killing sheep-killing raid; to spring on a porch, to lift a window, to enter and ensconce himself cosily by the fire with an air of artless innocence. Yet no dog has ever been known to close the window behind him. If he had done so it would have been no greater evidence of sagacity than tho skill with which a wolverino fills up a pit after he has robbed it and piles tho brush above it exactly as ho found it. Reynard the fox, with all his boasted cunning, has never attained this perfection of wit. The wolverine occasionally assumes an attitude that has never been observed ob-served in the case of any other beast, unless it be the gorilla or chimpanzee. When wishing to scan an object carefully care-fully or to givo a searching glanco around him, he rises to nn almost erect position and shields his eyes by placing plac-ing one of his paws above them. Standing in this attitude he is almost human in aspect. A detective camera could scarcely be aimed at a more striking object. The bright sunlight, especially when reflected from snow. Is doubtless trying to eyes that are fitted to see by night almost as well as by day. ' The wolverino. or carcajou, as he i3 called in the far north, is classed with the typical fur-bearing animals, the best known of which are the otter, the badger, the sable, the ermine, the skunk, tho weasel and tho mink. Tho wolverino is ono of the largest of tho group, being excelled in siza by tho otter only. Ho averages about thirty inches from muzzle to root of tail, which last member adds twelvo inches more to his length. Ho is low in stature, standing not raoro than eight or ten inches high, with a long head and neck and a lithe body endowed with surprising strength and agility. The fur is soft and silky, tho prevailing prevail-ing color blackish brown, the feet and head black, while a band of reddish brown runs along each side of the back from the shoulders to the tail. ' The carcajou is found fn northern Maine, in tho White Mountains of New Hampshire, sometimes in the Adiron-dacks Adiron-dacks and more frequently in the Rocky Mountains of . Washington, Idaho and Montana. It inhabits the whole northern north-ern belt of forest from our own boundary bounda-ry line to the Arctic regions. He is exceedingly bloodthirsty, living for the most part on animal food freshly killed by himself. Ho will, however, help himself to any meat that is not decayed, and he displays remarkable cunning in searching for and carrying off the car-?asws car-?asws of game thati hunters have killed. In making ttrase raids be calls into play not only jjiis keen wits but ! . : : ! |