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N A M E :
L A T I N M E A N I N G :
I D E N T I F I C A T I O N :
R A N G E A N D H A B I T A T :
N I C H E S :
B E N E F I T S :
O F F S P R I N G :
C O M P A R A B L E B E A S T S :
R A N G E M A P
THE LEPROCAUN.
(Simiidiabolus hibernicus horribillis.)
During the early days of Upper Canada, before it became
the Providence of Ontario, there were brought into a logging
camp on the Madawaska River several young leprocauns from
the north of Ireland. This animal was even then rare and has
since become extinct in its native land. It is said that during
the last famine hungry Irishmen killed and ate the few remain-
ing specimens of this queer beast.#######################
On its native bogs the leprocaun was a harmless creature,
celebrated for its playfulness and laughable antics. It would
hop across the bogs, turn somersaults, and leap over hillocks
with wondrous agility. A favorite trick was to bore into a pile
of drying peat and then, with a sudden spring, send the clods
of peat high in the air till the commotion looked like a young
cyclone. These antics were all right enough in Ireland, but
when the animal was brought to Canada its disposition changed
at once. The pets on the Madawaska escape into nearby
tamarack swamps, increasing and spreading until an occasional
one was seen on the upper Ottawa and even over in northern
Michigan. Sneaking through the tamarack and cedar , or leap-
ing across the muskegs after whatever appealed to it as food,
the leprocaun became a creature to be feared and avoided.
Teamsters toting supplies across swamp roads have been at-
tacked by the animal, which would bound clear over the load,
snapping its teeth at the driver and reaching for him with its
villainous claws. Hasty flight to thick timber, leaving the team
to its fate, was the only choice of the driver, who thanked his
stars that in running through tangled tamarack even the lepro-
caun is no match for a frightened man.####################
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