652 



APPENDIX. 



[No. V. 



body is dark at the base, yellowish above, and tipped with black, short on the head 

 and gradually lengthening towards the tail where it loses much of the yellow hue, 

 taking a chestnut colour instead ; the tail is black and shining, the throat brown, with 

 a few white tipped hairs, the belly and legs dark brown ; the ears are short, broad, 

 and round, appearing lighter on the tips. Captain Franklin's specimen was killed at 

 Cumberland-House, in November 1819, but the animal was seen at various places 

 during the Expedition, even as far to the northward as the Great Slave Lake. Fishers 

 are killed by the fur hunters, and purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company, whose 

 importation in the last year amounted to 1800. 



Mustela Lutreola. Mink. 



No specimen of this animal was sent home, although it was met with by the 

 travellers on their journey, and a drawing of one was made by Lieutenant Hood ; a 

 skin was received, with those supplied by the Hudson's Bay Company for the purpose 

 of elucidating these notices, and as the name " Mink," has been applied by some 

 writers to other animals than the present, it is very satisfactory that the authority of 

 its application here is unquestionable. The Mink is well described by Forster, in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, in his account of the animals received in 1771^ from Hud- 

 son's Bay, as the Lesser Otter, or Jackash, as it is called by the natives ; it is considered 

 by him to be the same as M. Lutreola, which is found in parts of Europe and Asia. 

 Hearne also notices it. It is of slender make, with more of the general appearance of 

 a small Otter than of a Marten. The fur, apparently of excellent quality, is short and 

 thick, of an uniform dark brown, glossy at the tip, that of the tail rather longer and 

 darker. The specimen, including the tail, which is six inches long, is nearly two feet 

 in length. The number of skins of this species, imported by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany in 1822, exceeded 4600. The habits and prey of the Mink are those which have 

 been erroneously ascribed to the Fisher, and it is probable that the Mustela which feeds 

 on fish, mentioned in the communications from the northern parts of America, is really 

 the animal now described : it is a true Fisher, haunting small streams and rapids in 

 the summer, and preying upon the fish that come there to spawn. 



Mustela Erminea. Stoat Ermine. 



An universal inhabitant of the northern countries, both in the Old and New World. 

 It is known as the Stoat in the summer season, when the whole upper parts of the 

 body are brown ; in the winter it becomes beautifully white, with the exception of 

 the tip of its tail, which is black. It has not been observed by writers that the fur of 

 the Ermine becomes thicker and elongated in winter, but this is a general effect of cold 

 in all Quadrupeds, whether they alter the colour of their coats or remain unchanged. 

 In the vicinity of Hudson's Bay and in the interior, the Ermine frequents the houses 



