934 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



traps, and reach in above the fall and spring the trap. I have 

 had a Fisher remove a piece of water-soaked wood from the top 

 of a trap, set for him, which would weigh a great deal more 

 than he would, then spring the trap. If log traps are set in 

 hollow trees or stubs, they cannot fool with them, and most 

 hunters consider them surer than steel traps." 



These details are corroborated by Dr. Merriam, but he 

 adds" that the Fisher is "said to be less objectionable than 

 the Wolverine in one particular, /. e., it leaves the traps where 

 it finds them, while the other blackleg lugs them off and hides 

 them." 



B. R. Ross's account'* of the immense Fisher that he 

 caught at Riviere d'Argent (Slave River Delta, 15 miles from 

 Fort Resolution) might easily refer to the Wolverine. He says: 

 "For about two weeks it had been infesting my Marten road, 

 tearing down the traps and devouring the baits. So, resolved 

 to destroy it, I made a strong wooden trap. It climbed up 

 this, entered from above, and ate the meat. A gun was next 

 set, but with no better success. It cut the line and ran off 

 with the bone that was tied to the end of it. As a dernier 

 ressort I put a steel trap in the middle of the road, covered 

 it carefully, and set a bait at some distance on each side. 

 Into this it stumbled. From the size of its footprints my im- 

 pression all along was that it was a small Wolverine that was 

 annoying me, and I was surprised to find it to be a Fisher. It 

 showed good fight, hissed at me much like an enraged cat, 

 biting at the iron trap, and snapping at my legs. A blow on the 

 nose turned it over, when I completed its death by compres- 

 sing the heart with my foot until it ceased to beat. The skin, 

 when stretched for drying, was fully as large as a middle-sized 

 Otter and very strong, in this respect resembling that of the 

 Wolverine." 



COON- In the Northern States and in southern Canada the ranges 



I IKE ,. . 



HAuiT of the Coon and Fisher overlap. In this common strip the 

 Coon hunters quite often tree the Fisher, for the haunts and 



" Mam. ,\dir., 1884, p. 48. " Can. Nat., VI, 1S61, p. 24. 



