The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-07-17

enemy of both the Canada porcupiue and rae
coon. With regard to the last, indeed, Coues
quotes letter of Mr.. p. Reds to Prof Baird,
in which he states that within parts OF the
Hudson Bay Territory the number of
"CooNs" DEPENDS UPON THAT OF FISHERS.
He also says that he witnessed encounters in
which the pekan attacked minks, muskrats,
weasels and house rats, and that they always
ended in the death of the assaulted" On one
occasion, moreover, the trapper found traces OF
a raccoOn who had been pursued by black
cat aud read in the snow, as in an open book,
an account of the first fierce onslaught and
combat, of the flight Frequently overtaken and
interrupted by successive battles) in which tho
hunted creature, growing weaker with loss OF
blood and exhaustion, was, as he believed,
finally destroyed. The Canada porcupine has
been called the fishers favorite food, and the
report states that it is generally killed by bite
in the abdomen. Audubon casts some doubt
upon this story, and not without reason, for
besides the fact that the stomach is generally
protected by the position assumed for defense
the animal rolling itself up in bristling bali
there is an additional reason for doubling this
statement Instinct is organized experience,
and the general history OF wild beasts shows
that when they wish to take life at once, they
know how TO do it efIoctually. No organ TO
which wound would prove rapidly fatal but
the heart. lies upon the under surface OF the
body, and this is protected by the breast-bone
and ribs. When panther kills il is by tearing
open the vessels of the throat. A tiger does the
same or breaks the neck or skull Among
other earnivora, the wild dog and wolf eriScerate
their victims, but this is different procedure
from merely decorating the abdominal vscera.
Surprising zoe under surface of the porcuplne
TO be accessible, it would be far more expeditions
TO cut its throat; but however the deed may
be done, porcupines are nevertheless killed,
because Glpin reports that tho quilts of this
creature have been found in the pekans
stomach
NJ. peunanti Is distributed through the
forest tracts of North America generally, above
the 35th parallel aud Ross met with it in the
Mackenzie River region and the grassy
marshes and prairie" country lying in the
Slave River delta. II was identified by Lewis
aud Clarke as the black fox west of the
Rocky Mountains and by Allen Newberry,
Cooper and Suckley in Colorado, Washington
Territory and Oregon. The bone caves OF Penn
sylvamia have also yclded>a number of fossil
forms, although the animal has now become
extinct in most of the Northern and Eastern
States. Ii has become rare at present even in
Canada, aud is disappearing from Nova Scotia;
but in British America the fisher is yet tolera-
bly, abundant throughout the entire breadth of
that country, and its range extends from the
southern border to go N, and from the East
ern forests TO Alaska.
THOUGH ESSENTIALLY cARNIvoRoUs,
the pekan will eat vegetable food when pressed
by hunger It's habits are nocturnal, and it
breeds once "A year the nest for the most part
being placed in hollow tree, 30 or 40-feet
above ground. From two to four yoIng are
produced at a birth, and if these be taken when
very young. says Audubon, who tried the ex-
pertinent though at FIRST voracious and very
spiteful,n aud continually growing and snap
-1,4.~
susceptible OF complete domestcaton} became
resigned to captivity, and ultimately grow fat,
a sure evidence of mental and emotional tran
guilty. Hearne's evidence is OF similar tenor.
When approached in tie woods Pennant's mar
ten often shows signs Of violent rage-bristling
aud splitting like a cat Ii the tree where 10
has taken refuge be cut down, so that the hum
ter's dogs can take part ia the chase, the ami
NAL generally leaps into the snow as 1t IS fall
ing. aud there fights desperately. 1t is ex-
tremely tenacious OF life, and will maintain
its hold Of a dogs nose, on which, like the
otter, il often fastens, until death relaxes the
jaw; and thus it is said that fishers are much
more formidable foes 10 dogs than either the
gray or red fox.
Ia the Spring and early Summer, when en-
gagged in providing for its young, II frequently
goes abroad by day, but trappers affirm that
black cats are never taken IN the daylight.
Reid considers that this animal Is not very
cunning and asserts that steel traps catch it
easily but there issome discrepancy between
his opinion and that expressed by Il. L. Ross,
from whose relation 1t would seem that the
pekan is scarcely surpassed in astuteness by the
wolverine or red fox. There is always, from
the circumstances under which observations
are made. aud their almost inevitable incom-
pleieness. a certain amount Of disagreement in
testimony concerning the habits aud character
Of almost all fcrse, and what is chiefly 20 be
avoided ia the study of natural history, is an
inherent tendency to premature conclusions
which obstruct progress by putting ignorance
in place Of knowledge.
ITO be c0nfiHued