CHAPTER XX 



FISHER 



The fisher is found principally in Canada, the finest specimens 

 coming from Eastern Canada. Oregon, Washington, California, 

 Montana, Idaho, and the fringe of states along the Canadian border 

 is also the home of the fisher. The fisher is a beautiful fur, especially 

 the smaller silkier skins. In addition to its beauty it is a splendid wear- 

 l ng fur, being much stronger in texture than the fox and the long 

 guard hairs resemble the coon in thickness and strength. The fisher 

 does not like civilization and is usually found in rather dense forests. 

 It is very clever and on this account it is difficult for trappers to 

 successfully catch them. The fisher skin when stretched and cased 

 is about thirty inches long and from six and one half to seven inches 

 wide. Its underfur is about one inch in depth, the long guard fur 

 being about one and one half to two inches in length at the lower end 

 of the body, the fur around the neck and shoulders, being shorter 

 but growing longer down to the root of the tail. The tail is about 

 two thirds of the length of the body and is about one and one half 

 inches in diameter, and slopes gradually down to a point, being larger 

 where it joins the body. 



Boys, especially those living in the South, often catch large black 

 house cats that have run wild and that have developed a rather heavy 

 coat of fur, and invariably think they have caught a fisher; but there 

 are no fisher found in the central and southern states, their home, as 

 stated, being in Canada and the northernmost states of the Union. 



The color of the fur varies, the finest specimens being a very dark 

 deep rich brown on the lower half of the body and a little lighter in 

 shade around the neck and shoulders. The very large fishers are often- 

 times coarse and these skins are not as valuable as the smaller soft 

 silky-furred ones. The fisher is one of the most powerful animals for 

 its size that exists and is a game fighter and never gives up. It preys 

 on rabbits and other small animals as well as birds, and will destroy 

 any animal that it finds caught in a trap and like the weasel, is a 

 killer. 



There are a few fishers in captivity in zoological gardens, but 

 they do not thrive very well where too closely penned up. Some 



