XLI. 

 Pekan, Fisher, Blackcat or Pennant Marten. 



Mustela pennant! Erxleben. 



(L. Mustela, a weasel; pennanti, in honor of Pennant, the EngHsh naturalist.) 



Mustela pennanti Erxleben, 1777, Syst. Regn. Anim., I, p. 470. 

 Type Locality. — Eastern Canada. 



French Canadian, le Pekan. 

 Cree, Ojib., & Saut., Oo-djeeg'. 

 Chipewyan, Tba-cho (Big Marten). 



The name 'Pekan,' first recorded by Charlevoix (1744) 

 and popularized by Buffon, 1765, is the Abenaki name, 

 adopted without change (Rasles, Abenaki Diet.). It is used 

 chiefly in books, but has some currency among the French 

 Canadians. 



In Trumbull's Natick dictionary the name given is 

 'Pekane.' C. G. D. Roberts tells me that in Micmac it is 

 called 'Pekwahm,' and Tappan Adney that the Melecite is 

 'P'gumpk,' or sometimes ' Pekonk.' 



'Fisher,' the usual name, is a sad misnomer, as the animal 

 does not fish. DeKay considers' that, probably, it was so 

 styled on account of its singular fondness for the fish baits 

 used in trapping. 'Blackcat' is a name often applied in 

 Ontario. 



"Wejack, the appellation under which Hearne mentions 

 it, is a corruption of its Cree or Knisteneaux name, otchtvck, and 

 the word 'Woodshock' has a similar origin."- 



' Zool. N. Y., 1842, I, p. 32. = Richardson, F. B. A., 1829, I, p. 53. 

 92G 



