7784 Quadrupeds. 



It has been supposed that the blue fox is the young of the white 

 fox, but this I do not think possible. The specimen now before me is 

 full grown, and in fact it would be a very large animal of the other 

 colour. The colour is also very rare, for while hundreds of white are 

 traded, not more than six, on an average, of the blue are exported 

 yearly from this district. If they were the young of the white the 

 number would be certainly greater. What are traded are all obtained 

 from the Esquimaux inhabiting the sea coast, so that it may justly be 

 termed a littoral animal. On only two occasions, to my knowledge, 

 has it been killed inland, and then at the eastern end of Slave Lake, 

 close to or on the barren grounds; but on inspecting the two animals 

 minutely, so close is their resemblance to one another, except in colour, 

 that I am inclined, in default of more precise information, to class 

 them as varieties of the same species, the blue being a rare one, and 

 holding the same position that the silver does in the fulvous species. 

 An examination of a number of skins would doubtless show shades of 

 colour filling up the intermediate position that the cross fox holds to 

 the other group. 



Mustela Pennanti. — Legs, tail, belly and hinder part of back black, 

 the back with an increasing proportion of grayish white to the head. 

 Length over 2 feet. Vertebrae of tail exceeding 12 inches. 



This animal is the pecan or fisher of the fur traders. In this district 

 it is not found except in the vicinity of Fort Resolution, which may 

 be considered as its northern limit. In the numerous deltas of the 

 mouth of Slave River it is abundant, frequenting the large grassy 

 marshes or prairies, for the purpose of catching mice, its principal 

 food. In appearance it bears a strong family likeness to both the 

 martin and the wolverine. Its general shape assimilates more to the 

 former, but the head and ears have a greater similitude to those of the 

 latter. It is named by the Chippewayan Indians " Tha cho," or great 

 martin. Its neck, legs and feet are stouter in proportion than those 

 of the martin, and its claws much stronger. In colour and size it 

 varies greatly. Young full-fun-ed specimens, or those born the pre- 

 vious spring, can scarcely be distinguished from large martins, except 

 by a darker pelage and a less full and more pointed tail. As it ad- 

 vances towards old age the colour of the fur grows lighter, the long 

 hairs become coarser and the grayish markings are of greater extent 

 and more conspicuous. 



The largest fisher which I have seen was killed by myself on the 

 Riviere de Argent, one of the channels of the mouth of the Slave 



