222 



NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



First Series, Photograph 3. 



next to the marten in size, is quite common. It is locally known 

 as the " cotton mink " or " cotton-tail mink," with a tail of me- 

 dium length, hair short instead of bushy, with short and very thick 



fur in winter. Its hunt- 

 ing ground is in thick 

 green timber and along 

 the streams, and it is 

 almost as much of a 

 water animal as the 

 beaver, being a great 

 fish catcher. 



The otter (Lutra can- 

 adensis) is now quite 

 rare on the Elk River, 

 and is exclusively a fish 

 eater. 



The pine martens 

 (Mustcia amcricana abi- 

 etinoidcs) vary in color from a light bufif to a dark chocolate 

 brown with gray hair scattered along the back and tail or with 

 a white tail tip. The brown and pale forms predominate ; the 

 dark ones, of highest commercial value, constituting not over 

 five per cent of the whole number. Feeding on birds and small 

 mammals from the grouse to the mouse, their range is mostly 

 in the dark spruces just below the timber line. 



The fisher (Mitstela pcnnantii) is very rare. Smith has ob- 

 served only one on the 



Elk River, and in a - 



few cases the tracks of 

 others. Strictly contra- 

 ry to its popular name, 

 it is a dry land, moun- 

 tain-living animal, never 

 approaching the water, 

 never burrowing in 

 banks and near streams, 

 but living in hollow trees 

 or old stumps. It is a 

 great tree climber, its 

 very sharp claws being 

 quite as useful in climb- 

 ing as in catching prey. In size it is halfway between the wolver- 

 ine and marten, with dark brown back and sides. Its food con- 



First Series, Photograph 3a. 



