PENNANT'S MARTEN OR FISHER. 313 



The older one, which, as Mr. Baird mentions, was killed by the dogs 

 and the hunters, was a female, and no doubt was the mother of the one 

 that was captured, and probablj' died in the hope of saving her young. 



On several occasions we have seen the tracks of the Fisher in the 

 snow ; they resemble those of the pine marten, but are double their size. 

 To judge by them, the animal advances by short leaps in the manner of 

 a mink. Pennant's Marten appears to prefer low swampj' grounds. 

 We traced one which had followed a trout stream for some distance, and 

 ascertained that it had not gone into the water. Marks were quite 

 visible in different places where it had scratched up the snow b)" the 

 side of logs and piles of timber, to seek for mice, or other small quad- 

 rupeds, and we have no doubt it preys upon the Northern hare, gray 

 rabbit, and ruffed grouse, as w^e observed a great many tracks of those 

 species in the vicinity. It further appears, that this animal makes an 

 occasional meal on species which are much more closely allied to it 

 than those just mentioned. 



In a letter we received from Mr. Fotheegill, in which he furnished us 

 with notes on the habits of some of the animals existing near Lake 

 Ontario, he informs us that " a Fisher was shot by a hunter named 

 Marsh, near Port Hope, who said it was up in a tree, in close pursuit of 

 a pine marten, which he also brought with it." Mr. Fothergill stuffed 

 them both at the time. 



Lewis and Clarke state that in Oregon the Fisher captures not only 

 the squirrel, but the raccoon, and that in pursuing them it leaps from 

 tree to tree. 



Richardson remarks that, " the Fisher is said to prey much on frogs 

 in the summer season ; but I have been informed that its favourite food 

 is the Canada porcupine, which it kills by biting in the belly." He 

 says also, "it will feed on the hoards of frozen fish laid up by the 

 residents." 



We can scarcely conceive in what manner it is able to overturn the 

 porcupine, so as to bite it on the belly, as it is large and heavy, and is 

 armed with bristles at all points. 



It is stated by Dr. Dekay, on the authority of a person who resided 

 many years near Lake Oneida, New York, that the name (Fisher) 

 " was derived from its singular fondness for the fish used to bait traps." 



An individual of this species, which had been caught in a steel-trap, 

 was brought to Charleston and exhibited in a menagerie. It had been 

 taken only a few months, and was sullen and spiteful ; when fed, it 

 gulped down a moderate quantity of meat in great haste, swallowing 

 it nearly whole, and then retired in a growling humour to a dark corner 

 of its cage. 41 



b 



