82 PENNANT'S MARTEN 



recent years. In my early days of trapping the 

 capture of a fisher was rare, and I have known 

 old trappers who had never seen the animal alive. 

 At that time porcupines were found in great 

 numbers, principally in that section of the coun- 

 try east of the Manicouagan River to the head- 

 waters of the Ste. Marguerite. I mention this 

 fact from personal observation. It was no un- 

 usual thing for an Indian family to capture from 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred porcupines 

 in a winter. We could easily have done the same 

 ourselves had we so desired, but as we generally 

 had more meat than we could use we left them un- 

 molested. I have crossed in one day's walking, 

 over thirty fresh yards or winter quarters of the 

 porcupine. A very low estimate of the numbers 

 killed each year in the above limits would be 

 about five or six thousand. This continued dur- 

 ing the fifteen years that I trapped in that region 

 and until about 1880, when a large migration of 

 fisher occurred and the poor porcupine were 

 doomed. In two years they were completely des- 

 troyed. During these two years every trapper 

 got a few fisher, some getting as many as ten or 

 twelve in one season. I myself trapped eight one 

 winter in this immediate vicinity, although I 

 could only devote a small portion of my time to 

 trapping. This abundance of fisher lasted only 

 three seasons; after that they disappeared. Since 



