82 THE TRAPPER'S ART. 



The Fisher is an exceedingly powerful animal for its size, 

 and will tear down wooden traps, or " dead-falls," with ease. 

 It frequently annoys the trapper by robbing his marten-traps 

 of their bait, or of the animals they have caught. Indeed, 

 the marten-trappers of the Hudson's Bay Territory consider 

 an old Fisher as great an infliction as a wolverene. It will 

 follow a " line " of traps for miles, and visits them with ex- 

 emplary regularity. The structure for taking the marten 

 being too small to admit the entrance of a Fisher, he breaks 

 in from behind, and thus secures the bait without getting into 

 the trap. 



THE FOX. 



The members of the Fox or Vulpine genus are numerous. 

 Foxes are distributed through all latitudes, but they are 

 most abundant in the North. Naturalists recognize fourteen 

 different species. On this continent we have the Red, the 

 Cross, the Silver or Black, the Prairie, the Swift or Kit, the 

 Gray, the Coast, and the Arctic species. Northern Asia is 

 re])rescnted by the Black and Gray, the White, the Red, and 

 tlie Kit ; European Russia, Sweden, and Norway, by the 

 Black and Gray, the Cross, the Blue, the White, and the 

 Red ; Middle Europe, by the Red ; and Greenland by tlie 

 Blue and the White. In Southern Africa the Asse or 

 Cnama, and in Northern Africa the Fennec or Zerda, belong 

 to the Fox genus. Fur-dealers say that there are thirteen 

 different varieties or species of the Fox in Russia. 



The Fox is one of the most important of the fur-bearing 

 animals. The most valuable, most beautiful, most rare, and 

 most sought for of all the foxes, is the Silver Gray or Black. 

 It is found in the high northern latitudes of both continents, 

 but only about two thousand skins in all are annually ob- 

 tained. The best ones bring at the London sales as much as 

 two hundred dollars each. The Cross Fox is next in value. 

 On this continent the Black, Cross, and Re<l Foxes vary 

 greatly in color and marking, and in quality of fur. This is 

 probably due to the liybridizing of the different species with 

 each other. It is thought by some huntei'^ that the Cross 



