Still keeping to the lakes and streams, we may often fall in with a
creature of curious habits, which, unlike those just described, lives
almost entirely among the branches of the trees. In shape it is
somewhat like a weasel, and is the largest of the tree martens. It is
known as the wood-shock or pekan, and is also called the black cat, and
fisher. This last term is inappropriate, as it is not in any way
piscivorous. It is of a dark brown hue, with a line of black shining
hair reaching from the neck to the extremity of the tail. The under
parts are lighter; some entirely white. It possesses also a very large,
full, and expressive eye.
Though spending its time among the trees, hunting for its prey, it forms
a burrow in the ground for its usual habitation. It lives upon
squirrels and rabbits, as well as grouse and other birds and their eggs.
Not only does it venture to attack the well-armed porcupine, but it
kills the animal, and eats it up, quills and all. The difficulty of
accomplishing this appears very great, but there are numerous instances
in which pekans have been killed, when their bodies were found full of
quills, from which they did not appear to have suffered. They eat up,
indeed, both the flesh and bones of the porcupine--the latter being so
strong that a small bird cannot crack them. Mr Downs, the naturalist
of Nova Scotia, states that he has frequently found porcupine quills in
the stomach of the fisher.
The animal is hunted for the sake of its skin, which is of some value--
as also for amusement, especially by boys, as the creature is not
sufficiently formidable to cause any great danger to them or their dogs.
It is about four feet long, including the tail, which measures about
eighteen inches.