Quadrupeds. 1785 



River, about fifteen miles from Fort Resolulion ; it was fully as long 

 as a fulvous fox, much more muscular, and weighed eighteen pounds. 

 In the colour of its fur the grayish tints preponderated, extending from 

 half way down the hack to the nose ; the fur was comparatively coarse, 

 though thick and full ; the tail was long and pointed, and the whole 

 shade of the pelage was very light' and had rather a faded look; its 

 claws were very strong and of brown colour; and, as if to mark its 

 extreme old age, the teeth were a good deal worn and very much de- 

 cayed. I caught it with difficulty : for about two weeks it had been 

 infesting my marten road, tearing down the traps and devouring the 

 baits ; so, resolved to destroy it, I made a strong wooden trap : it 

 climbed up this, entered from above, and ate the meat. A gun was 

 next set, but with no better success; it cut the line, and ran off with 

 the bone that was tied to the end of it. As a dernier resort I put a 

 steel trap in the middle of the road, covered it carefully, and set a bait 

 at some distance on each side : into this it tumbled. From the size 

 of its foot-prints my impression all along was that it was a small wol- 

 verine that was annoying me, and I was surprised to find it to be a 

 fisher. It showed good fight, hissed at me, much like an enraged cat, 

 biting at the iron trap and snapping at my legs : a blow on the nose 

 turned it over, when I completed its death by compressing the heart 

 with my foot until it ceased to beat. The skin, when stretched for 

 drying, was fully as large as a middle-sized otter, and very strong ; in 

 this respect resembling that of a wolverine. 



In their habits the fishers resemble the martens; their food is much 

 the same, but they do not seem to keep so generally in the woods. 

 They are not so nocturnal in their wanderings as the foxes. An old 

 fisher is nearly as great an infliction to a marten trapper as a wolverine. 

 It is an exceedingly powerful animal for its size, and will tear down 

 the wooden traps with ease : its regularity in visiting them is exem- 

 plary. In one quality it is, however, superior to the wolverine, which 

 is that it leaves the sticks of the traps lying where they were planted, 

 while the other beast, if it can discover nothing better to hide, will 

 cache them some distance off. It prefers flesh meat to fish, is not 

 very cunning, and is caught without difficulty in the steel trap. 

 Fishers are caught by methods similar to those employed in fox- 

 trapping. 



Pine or American Marten {Miistela americana). — Legs and tail 

 blackish ; general colour a deep and rich orange-brown, clouded with 

 black along the back. Head generally light-coloured, with the tips 

 XTX. 3 R 



