THE RARE FURS 309 



III 



Wuchak the Fisher, or Pekan 



Wherever the waste of fish or deer is thrown, there will be 

 found lines of double tracks not so large as the wild-cat's, not so 

 small as the otter's, and without the same webbing as the mink's. 

 This is wuchak the fisher, or pekan, commonly called "the black 

 cat" — who, in spite of his fishy name, hates water as cats hate it. 

 And the tracks are double because pekan travel in pairs. He is 

 found along the banks of streams because he preys on fish and 

 fisher, on mink and otter and muskrat, on frogs and birds and 

 creatures that come to drink. He is, after all, a very greedy fellow, 

 not at all particular about his diet, and like all gluttons, easily 

 snared. While mink and otter are about, the trapper will waste 

 no steel-traps on pekan. A deadfall will act just as effectively; 

 but there is one point requiring care. Pekan has a sharp nose. 

 It is his nose that brings him to all carrion just as surely as hawks 

 come to pick dead bones. But that same nose will tell him of man's 

 presence. So when the trapper has built his pen of logs so that the 

 front log or deadfall will crush down on the back of an intruder 

 tugging at the bait inside, he overlays all with leaves and brush to 

 quiet the pekan's suspicions. Besides, the pekan has many tricks 

 akin to the wolverine. He is an inveterate thief. There is a well- 

 known instance of Hudson's Bay trappers having a line of one 

 hundred and fifty marten traps stretching for fifty miles robbed of 

 their bait by pekan. The men shortened the line to thirty miles 

 and for six times in succession did pekan destroy the traps. Then 

 the men set themselves to trap the robber. He will rifle a deadfall 

 from the slanting back roof where there is no danger ; so the trapper 

 overlays the back with heavy brush. 



Pekan are hard to trap ; but they are always at run where the 

 trapper is hunting the rare furs, and for that reason are usually 

 snared at the same time as mink and otter. 



