Volume 2

A natural history, general and particular containing the history and theory of the earth, a general history of man, the brute creation, vegetables, minerals, &c, &c / by George Louis Le Clerc, count of Buffon ; translated from the French by William Smellie.

  • Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A natural history, general and particular containing the history and theory of the earth, a general history of man, the brute creation, vegetables, minerals, &c, &c / by George Louis Le Clerc, count of Buffon ; translated from the French by William Smellie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/478 (page 9)
    THE PEKAN.—T1IE SABLE. polecat is single ; for I believe not that the animal men- tioned by Kolbe, under the name of the stinking badger, which appears to be a real mouffette, exists at the Cape of Good Hope as a native of that country. It may have been transported from America ; and Kolbe, who is by no means exact in his facts, may have borrowed his de scription from P. Zuchel, whom he quotes as having sftn this animal in Brasil. That of New' Spain, called ortoliua by Fernandez, seems to be the same animal with the zorilla of Peru ; and the tepemaxtla of the same author may be the conepate, which ought to be found in New Spain, as wrell as in Louisiana and Carolina. THE PEKAN, AND THE VISON. Pékan weasel, with very long and strong whiskers ; ears a little pointed ; hair on the head, body, belly, and legs, cinereous at the roots, and of a bright bay at the ends, very soft and glossy. Between the fore legs there is a white spot. The toes are covered with thick hair above and below. The claws are sharp. The tail is of a deeper colour than the body. In form it is like a martin, but much less. The name pekan was long familiar in the fur trade of Canada, wdthout knowing the animal to which it pro- perly belonged. This name is not to be found in the writings of the naturalists, and travellers have employed it indiscriminately to denote different animals, and par- ticularly the mouffettes. By others the animal which ought to bear the name of pekan has been called a fox or a wild cat ; and it was impossible to derive any pre- cise knowledge from such short and erroneous intima- tions. With regard to the vison we are equally ignorant. We know nothing of these names, except that they belong to two North American animals. We found these two animals in the cabinet of M. Aubry, who obligingly permitted us to describe and draw them. The pekan has so strong a resemblance to the pine weasel, and the vison to the martin, that they may be regarded as varieties of these species. They not only have the same figure, the same proportions, the same length of tail, the same quality of hair, but the same number of teeth and claws, and the same instinct and manners. Hence we may conclude, that the pekan is a variety of the pine weasel, and the vison a variety of the martin, or at least that the species are so allied that they exhibit no real differences. The hair of the pekan and vison is only browner, and more lustrous and silky than that of the pine weasel and the martin. But this difference, it is well known, is common to them with the beaver, the otter, and other animals of North Ame- rica, whose furs are more beautiful than those of the same animals in the north of Europe. THE SABLE. Sable weasel, with long whiskers, rounded ears, and long bushy tail. The colour of the hair is black at the tips, and cinereous at the bottom ; the chin is cinereous, and the edges of the ears yellowish. Sometimes the hair is of a tawny cast ; for in spring, after shedding the coat, the colour varies. There are instances of their being found of a snowy whiteness. The usual length, from nose to tail, is about eighteen inches, and that of the tail ten. The sable is mentioned by almost every naturalist, without knowing more of it than the skin. M. Gmelin is the first who gave a figure and description of this ani- mal. He saw two of them alive in the house of the governor of Tobolski. 4 The sable,’ says he, 4 resembles * the martin in the form and habit of body, and the ‘ weasel in the teeth. It has six cutting teeth pretty ‘ long and a little'crooked, and two canine in the under ‘ jaw, and small sharp teeth in the upper. It has long 4 whiskers round the mouth, and large feet, all armed 4 with five claws. These characters were common to 4 both the sables. But the one was of a blackish brown 4 colour all over the body, except the ears and below the 4 chin, where the hair was a little yellow. The other 4 was smaller, and of a yellowish brown colour, with the 4 ears and under part of the chin of a paler cast. These 4 are their winter colours ; fpr in spring they change by 4 the shedding of the hair. The first sable, which was 4 of a blackish brown, changes into a brownish yellow' 4 in spring ; and the second, which was of a yellowish 4 brown, becomes a pale yellow. I admired,’ continues C 2