Of fur-bearing animals various kinds of foxes (makkeeshewuc) are found in the district, distinguished by the traders under the names of black, silver, cross, red, and blue foxes.  The two former are considered by the Indians to be the same kind, varying accidentally in the colour of the pelt.  The black foxes are very rare and fetch a high price.  The cross and red foxes differ from each other only in colour being of the same shape and size.  Their shades of colour are not disposed in any determinate manner, some individuals approaching in that respect very nearly to the silver fox, others exhibiting every link of the chain down to a nearly uniform deep or orange-yellow, the distinguishing colour of a pure red fox.  It is reported both by Indians and traders that all the varieties have been found in the same litter.  The blue fox is seldom seen here and is supposed to come from the southward.  The gray wolf (mahaygan) is common here.  In the month of March the females frequently entice the domestic dog from the forts although at other seasons a strong antipathy seemed to subsist between them.  Some black wolves are occasionally seen.  The black and red varieties of the American bear (musquah) are also found near Cumberland House though not frequently; a black bear often has red cubs, and vice versa.  The grizzly bear, so much dreaded by the Indians for its strength and ferocity, inhabits a track of country nearer the Rocky Mountains.  It is extraordinary that although I made inquiries extensively amongst the Indians I met with but one who said that he had killed a she-bear with young in the womb.

The wolverine, in Cree okeekoohawgees, or ommeethatsees, is an animal of great strength and cunning and is much hated by the hunters on account of the mischief it does to their marten-traps.  The Canadian lynx (peeshew) is a timid but well-armed animal which preys upon the American hare.  Its fur is esteemed.  The marten (wapeestan) is one of the most common furred animals in the country.  The fisher, notwithstanding its name, is an inhabitant of the land, living like the common marten principally on mice.  It is the otchoek of the Crees, and the pekan of the Canadians.  The mink (atjackash) has been often confounded by writers with the fisher.  It is a much smaller animal, inhabits the banks of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish.  The otter (neekeek) is larger than the English species and produces a much more valuable fur.

The muskrat (watsuss, or musquash) is very abundant in all the small grassy lakes.  They build small conical houses with a mixture of hay and earth, those which build early raising their houses on the mud of the marshes, and those which build later in the season founding their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself.  The house covers a hole in the ice which permits them to go into the water in search of the roots on which they feed.  In severe winters when the small lakes are frozen to the bottom and these animals cannot procure their usual food they prey upon each other.  In this way great numbers are destroyed.