HISTORY AXD HABITS OF THE PEKAN. 69 



WasbiDgtou Territory. According to Dr. Suckley, it is found 

 quite plentifully in the thickly wooded districts along the 

 eastern, and probably also the western, slopes of the Cascade 

 Eange, especially in the neighborhood of streams; it also in- 

 habits the Blue ^Mountains of the same region. In the eastern 

 United States, it must not be presumed that it actually occurs 

 now throughout its ascribed range ; for the settlement of the 

 country practically restricts it to the more inaccessible or at 

 least unfrequented wooded districts. Many years ago, as we 

 have already seen, it had become greatly thinned out in the 

 Middle States, and this process has been steadily progressing, 

 until, at the present day, the Pekan is almost unknown in most 

 of the United States east of the Mississippi. Writing in 1853, 

 Mr. Kennicot states it " used frequently to be seen'' in Illinois 

 in the heavy timber along Lake Michigan. In Xew England, 

 according to Mr. Allen, it probably still occurs, though rarely, 

 in the Hoosac ranges. In 1840, Dr. Emmons reported it as 

 occasionally found in the vicinity of Williamstown, Mass., 

 especially in the mountainous ranges which extend through 

 Stamford, Vt. It is stated to be rare in Canada, and not found 

 at all in the populous districts. In 2sova Scotia, according to 

 Dr. Gilpin, it was never very plenty, and is being rapidly 

 exterminated, only two hundred at most being taken yearly, 

 chiefly in the high wild region of the Cobequid Hills in Cum- 

 berland. In British America, Sir John Eichardson states that 

 it is found as far north as Great Slave Lake, latitude 63^ ; and 

 the specimens I have examined confirm this dispersion, ex- 

 tending it to include Alaska also. 



The Pekan is stated to breed but once a year; it brings 

 forth its young in the hollow of a tree, usually 30 or 40 feet 

 from the ground. Two, three, and four young, but not more, 

 so far as I have learned, are produced in a litter. It has been 

 known to offer desperate resistance in defence of its young, as 

 on the occasion when the individual figured by Audubon was 

 procured. This animal, a young one, was kept in confinement 

 for several days. " It was voracious, and very spiteful, growl- 

 ing, snarling and spitting when approached, but it did not 

 appear to suffer much uneasiness from being held in captivity, 

 as, like many other predacious quadrupeds, it grew fat, being 

 better supplied with food than when it had been obliged to 

 cater for itself in the woods." Another mentioned by the 

 same author as having been exhibited in a menagerie in 



