_Remarks._--The fisher is the size of a large cat. In general proportions it resembles the marten. Adult males measure about 3-1/2 feet in length; the tail comprises 16 inches of this. Adult females are slightly less than 3 feet in length of which the tail makes up approximately 15 inches. Males weigh up to 10 lbs. and females about 5-1/2 pounds (Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale, 1937: 213). The fisher has a slim body, bushy tail, short legs, large feet, and wide, low and triangular head. The ears are low, wide, rounded and erect. The fur is an ashy, brownish gray in color with an overwash of blackish caused by long, dark hairs. The head is slightly paler than the body. The feet, rump and tail are darkest. The claws are strong and sharply curved. The fisher is found in wooded parts of North America, extending southward in the Cascade-Sierra Nevada Chain to central California. Its near relatives are the martens. It is active all year. Like the marten, it is active by day and probably also by night. In spite of absolute protection for several years, the fisher is rare in Washington, and seems never to have been common. In consequence relatively little is known of its habits, and the little that is known has been reported by fur-trappers. [Illustration: FIG. 55. Distribution of the fisher, _Martes pennanti_, in Washington.] The fisher seems not to live in bands as does the marten. Most of the actual records of fishers trapped are at higher altitudes but are misleading because most trappers agree that the fisher occupied a lower zone, altitudinally, than does the marten. There are old records of its occurrence near sea level (Scheffer, 1938: 9). The animals are usually taken in marten sets or in traps set especially for fishers by trappers who find their tracks on their marten trap lines. Since marten trappers are almost the only persons who travel in the mountains in winter, and since they operate mostly above the areas where fishers live, relatively few fishers are reported. Fishers are said to feed on chipmunks, squirrels, mice, birds and other small, warm-blooded animals, and to climb trees and catch squirrels in their natural habitat. Also, fishers are said to catch and kill martens. Their tracks in the snow resemble the marten's in that the hind feet land in the same places as the forefeet; both animals bound rather than walk. The pelt of the fisher commands a high price. The smaller sized, females, are the more valuable. The price paid for pelts fluctuates widely and has ranged from as low as twelve dollars to as high as one hundred dollars in recent years. In Washington more fishers live in the Olympic Peninsula and the northern Cascade Mountains than elsewhere. A few may occur in northeastern Washington, the Blue Mountains and the Willapa Hills. The name _pacifica_ was regarded by Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1937: 217) as a synonym of _pennanti_. =Mustela erminea= Linnaeus Ermine