104 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



for in Upper Canada, at least, a certain amount of variation 

 occurs in species, though, I admit, it is not great. 



What occasions this variation I cannot say. At first 

 I thought that a seasonal change of fur was going to 

 take place, but that I soon found was not the case. 

 Then it occurred to me that the erratic individuals might 

 be cross-bred. That I noAv think to be extremely un- 

 likely. It is a strange fact that all these small, car- 

 nivorous mammals, agreeing, with but little difference 

 at all events, in their habits, should retain their ordinary 

 colour of fur at all seasons of the year with one ex- 

 ception — that of the ermine; and further, that none of 

 them hibernate. With regard to the latter fact, as far as 

 my experience goes, no species of marten, polecat, or 

 weasel ever does hibernate, not even in the polar regions. 



With the exception of the mink, all these weasels, as 

 I will collectively call them for the sake of avoiding con- 

 fusion, appeared to me to spend part of their time aloft 

 in the trees. They certainly take readily to trees in 

 moments of danger ; and all alike are fierce and capable 

 of attacking and overcoming animals vastly their superior 

 in size ; for instance, the}'^ destroy numbers of the large 

 American hare, which is nearly twenty times the weight 

 of the smallest of these weasels. 



Besides those I have already referred to, I shall 

 mention but one more — the tree-fox, or tree-cat, of the 

 trappers. This is Mustela pennanti, often called the fish- 

 marten. It is an animal about the size of a small fox, 

 of a dark brown colour, with a lighter shade down the 

 back ; very active in its habits, but spending much of its 

 time on the ground in damp, swampy situations. Unlike 

 the mink, it does not seem to often frequent running 

 water, but prowls about stagnant pools and small, shallow 

 lakes, preying on reptiles, fresh-water molluscs and crus- 

 taceans, and small fish, which it beats out of the water 

 with its fore-paws in the manner of a cat. It also robs 

 other animals of fish which they have captured, and I 



