PENNANT'S MARTEN OR FISHER. 



309 



that we have found the skin somewhat unpleasant to our olfactories, 

 several years after it had been prepared as a specimen. 



Fur on the back, from the roots to near the extremity, chesnut-brown, 

 tipped with reddish-brown and light gray. On the head, shoulders, and 

 fore part of the back, there are so many long whitish hairs interspersed, 

 that they produce a somewhat hoary appearance. Whiskers, nose, chin, 

 ears, legs, feet, and tail, dark-brown ; margins of the ears, light-brown ; 

 hips and posterior part of the back, darker than the shoulders ; eyes, 

 yellowish-brown ; nails, light horn-colour. 



In some specimens, we have seen a white spot on the throat, and a line 

 of the same colour on the belly ; others, (as w^as the case with the one 

 from which our dravdng was made,) have no white markings on the 

 body. We have seen a specimen, nearly white, with a brown head. 

 Another obtained in Buncombe county. North Carolina, was slightly 

 hoary on the w^hole upper surface. 



DIMENSIONS. 





From point of nose to root of tail 



23 inches 



Tail (vertebrae) 



12 do. 



" to end of hair 



14 J do. 



Breadth of head 



3§ do. 



Height of ear 



1 do. 



Breadth of ear 



2 do. 



From point of nose to eye 



2 do. 



" heel to point of longest nail 



4i do. 



Weight, 8i lbs. 





HABITS. 





Although this species is represented as having been rather common 

 in every part of the Northern and Middle States, in the early periods of 

 our history, and is still met with in diminished numbers, in the thinly 

 settled portions of our country ; very little of its history or habits has 

 been written, and much is still unknown. We have occasionally met 

 with it, but it has been to us far from a common species. Even in the 

 mountainous portions of the Northern and Eastern States, the Fisher, 

 thirty years ago, was as difficult to procure as the Bay lynx. It has 

 since become still more rare, and in places where it was then known, 



