g to examine his traps and
guns. The wolverene kills many of the foxes while young, and sometimes
on finding their burrow, widens it with his strong claws, and eats the
whole family in their nests. Even young wolves sometimes become his
prey. He lives, in fact, on very bad terms with both foxes and wolves,
and often robs the latter of a fat deer which they may have just killed,
and are preparing to dine upon. The beaver, however, is his favourite
food, and but that these creatures can escape him by taking to the
water--in which element he is not at all at home--he would soon
exterminate their whole race. His great strength and acute scent enable
him to overcome almost every wild creature of the forest or prairie. He
is even said to be a full match for either the panther or the black
bear.

The wolverene lives in clefts of rock, or in hollow trees, where such
are to be found; but he is equally an inhabitant of the forest and the
prairie. He is found in fertile districts, as well as in the most remote
deserts. His range is extensive, but he is properly a denizen of the
cold and snowy regions. In the southern parts of the United States he is
no longer known, though it is certain that he once lived there when
those countries were inhabited by the beaver. North of latitude 40 deg. he
ranges perhaps to the pole itself, as traces of him have been found as
far as man has yet penetrated.

He is a solitary creature, and, like most predatory animals, a nocturnal
prowler. The female brings forth two, sometimes three and four, at a
birth. The cubs are of a cream colour, and only when full grown acquire
that dark brown hue, which in the extreme of winter often passes into
black. The fur is not unlike that of the bear but is shorter-haired, and
of less value than a bear-skin. Notwithstanding, it is an article of
trade with the Hudson's Bay Company, who procure many thousands of the
skins annually.

The Canadian voyageurs call the wolverene "carcajou;" while among the
Orkney and Scotch servants of the Hudson's Bay Company he is oftener
known as the "quickhatch." It is supposed that both, these names are
corruptions of the Cree word _okee-coo-haw-gew_ (the name of the
wolverene among the Indians of that tribe). Many words from the same
language have been adopted by both voyageurs and traders.

Those points in the natural history of the wolverene, that might be
called _scientific_, were imparted by Lucien, while Norman furnished the