RED BAT

_Nycteris borealis_]

Although so heavily built, these squirrels are adept in leaping from

branch to branch and from tree to tree. On one occasion a branch on

which an Abert squirrel was standing near the top of a pine tree was

struck by a rifle ball; the squirrel promptly ran to the end of a

large branch about fifty feet from the ground, and although no tree

was anywhere near on that side, leaped straight out into the air, with

its legs outspread just as in a flying squirrel. It came down in a

horizontal position and struck the ground flat on its under side and

the rebound raised it several inches. Without an instant’s delay it was

running at full speed across a little open park and disappeared in the

forest on the other side. I was standing only a few yards to one

side of the falling squirrel and the widely spread feet and legs were

perfectly outlined against the sky. It was evident that this squirrel

and probably all of its kind appreciate that such an attitude will

help break the force of the descent. This suggested the possibility of

a similar habit having influenced the origin of the flying squirrel’s

membranes.

[Illustration: BIG-EARED DESERT BAT

_Antrozous pallidus_]

[Illustration: MEXICAN BAT

_Nyctinomus mexicanus_]

One summer day in the Sierra Madre of western Durango I sat on a

mountain slope watching for game. Below me stood the hollow-topped stub

of an oak, the top being on a level with my eyes and about twenty yards

away. Soon after I arrived the heads of four half-grown squirrels of

the Abert family appeared in a row at the upper border of the opening,

their bright eyes turning on all sides. Suddenly a hawk glided by, one

of its wing tips almost brushing the noses of the squirrels. Instantly

they vanished from sight and a noise of scratching and frightened

chattering continued for several minutes, as though they were burying

themselves under the nest. About twenty minutes later the boldest of

the family showed the tip of his nose at an opening in a hollow branch

near the top of the stub, but it required another ten minutes for him

to venture forth his head. Finally, becoming confident that no danger

threatened, he came out on the limb and deliberately stretched himself,

yawning as widely as his little mouth would permit, after which he

flirted his tail and frisked over to the trunk of the stub, where he

began frolicking about with all the abandon of a kitten at play. When I

departed his more timorous companions were still peering fearfully out

of the hole, anticipating the return of the dreaded hawk.

=THE FLYING SQUIRREL= (=Glaucomys volans= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 551_)

No one can see one of our small flying squirrels in life without

being charmed by its delicate grace of form and velvety fur, nor fail

to note the large black eyes which give it a pleasing air of lively

intelligence. Flying squirrels are distinguished from all other members

of the squirrel family by extensions of the skin along the sides, which

unite the front and hind legs, so that when the animal leaps from some

elevated point with legs outspread the membrane and the underside of

the body present a broad, flat surface to the air. This enables it to

glide swiftly down in a diagonal course toward a tree trunk or other

vertical surface on which it desires to alight. It is able to control

its movements and to turn with ease to one side or the other, or upward

before alighting. When gliding down a wooded hillside or through thick

growths of timber, it is thus able to avoid obstacles and alight on the

desired place.

Flying squirrels are circumpolar in distribution. In the Old World they

occupy forested areas in eastern Europe, and nearly all of Asia. In

the New World they are peculiar to North America, where they frequent

nearly all the wooded parts from the Arctic Circle to the Mexican

border, and in forests in Mexico along the eastern border of the

highlands as well as through Chiapas and Guatemala. In Asia, the center

of development of these interesting rodents, many extraordinary forms

occur. Some are giants of their kind, measuring nearly four feet in

total length. In America there are two groups of species, the smaller

and better known of which, the subject of this sketch, occupies the

eastern United States and southward. The northern and western animals

are larger, some of them more than twice the weight of the eastern

species.

In many parts of the United States flying squirrels are common and

even abundant, but their habits are so strictly nocturnal that they

are infrequently seen. They make their homes in woodpecker holes,

knot-holes, and hollows in limbs, and trunks of trees and stubs. In

addition they take possession of many odd places for residence, among

which may be mentioned bird-boxes, dove-cotes, attics, cupboards,

boxes, and other nooks in occupied or unoccupied houses that are

located within or at the borders of woods.

They also make nests of leaves, lining them with fine fibrous bark,

grass, moss, fur, or other soft material placed securely in the

branches or in forks in trees. They often remodel old bird or squirrel

nests into snug homes for themselves. The size and construction of

these outside nests vary according to the locality and the material

available.

As a rule, the nests are small and accommodate only a single pair with

their young, and sometimes hold only a single individual, but numerous

exceptions to this have been observed. In southern Illinois fifty

flying squirrels were discovered in one nest in a tree; in Indiana

fifteen were found in a hollow stump; and near Philadelphia thirty were

evicted from a martin box they had usurped.

In the southern part of their range flying squirrels are active

throughout the year, but in the North they become more or less sluggish

if they do not actually reach the stage of real hibernation during the

severest weather.

Their food is extremely varied and includes whatever nuts grow in their

haunts, as beechnuts, pecans, acorns, and others, with many kinds of

seeds, including corn gathered in the field, and buds, and fruits of

many kinds. They also eat many insects, larvæ, birds and their eggs,

and meat. Taking advantage of their known liking for bird flesh, they

may frequently be caught by concealing a trap on top of a log in the

woods and scattering bird feathers over and about it. Trappers for

marten and other forest fur-bearers are much annoyed in winter by the

persistence with which the flying squirrels search out their traps

and become caught in them, thus forestalling a more valued capture.

Trappers in Montana who run long lines of traps for marten through

the mountain forests capture hundreds of these squirrels in a single

season.

Flying squirrels have several notes, one of which is an ordinary

_chuck, chuck_, much like that of other squirrels. They also utter

sharp squeaks and squeals when angry or much alarmed, and a clear

musical chirping note, birdlike in character, which is frequently

repeated for several minutes in succession and is undoubtedly a song.

[Illustration: THE TRAIL OF THE MUSKRAT

The usual gait of the muskrat on land is a slow walk. The tail mark is

always very strongly shown (see pages 513 and 526).]

These beautiful little animals become the most delightful of pets,

as they are notable for extraordinary playfulness and a readiness to

accept man as a friend. Many interesting accounts have been published

concerning the affectionate attachment they form for their human hosts

and the amusing and tireless activity they show at night. By day they

remain sound asleep, rolled up in a furry ball in some dark corner.

They are known to have a litter of from two to six young in April, and

young are born at various times throughout the summer, but it is still

unsettled whether there is more than one litter a year. The mother is

devoted to the young, and if driven from them will keep close by at the

risk of her life, showing much anxiety and readiness to do what she can

to protect them. One instance well illustrates this maternal care. From

a nest in a hollow stub the helpless young were taken and placed on the

ground at its base, while the despoiler of the home stood by to observe

the result. The mother soon returned and not finding her family in the

nest promptly located them on the ground. Quickly descending, she took

one in her mouth, carried it to the top of the stub and, launching

into the air, sailed to a tree thirty feet away, up which she carried

her baby and placed it safely in a knot-hole. The trip was quickly

repeated until the family was reunited in its new location.

[Illustration: THE TRACKS OF A GRASSHOPPER MOUSE

The anatomy of the foot is fairly well shown in the track--the

insignificant thumb and the tubercles on the soles. The placing of the

fore feet, one behind the other, indicates that the creature cannot

climb a tree. The tail seldom or never shows. The original of this was

in fine dust. The small tracks to the right show the style usually

seen. There are many species of grasshopper mouse, but the tracks are

not distinguishable from each other. The exact species is determined by

locality, size, etc. (see pages 520 and 527).]

At night the curiosity of flying squirrels about strange things and

their mischievous activities are often most entertaining, and sometimes

exasperating. Whatever is accessible within their territory is certain

to be thoroughly explored. A large apartment building, seven stories

high, in Washington stands on the border of the woods of the Zoological

Park. During one summer night a friend occupying an apartment on the

seventh floor of this building, fronting the park, observed some

movement on one of his window sills and by later observation and

by inquiry among the other residents learned that flying squirrels

were habitually climbing all about the high walls to the top of this

building, using it and some of the rooms as a nightly playground.

Several occupants of apartments in different parts of the building

regularly placed nuts of various kinds on the window ledges for

them, and now and then were amused to find that during the night the

squirrels had carried away some of their nuts, but had replaced them

with other kinds, sometimes brought from a window at a considerable

distance on another side of the building. The presence of these

squirrels was warmly welcomed and furnished much interest to their

hosts.

The constant activity of these little animals at night enables owls and

cats to capture many, but their small size and the shelter of their

homes by day will prevent their serious decrease in numbers so long as

suitable forests remain to supply their needs.

=THE BLACK-FOOTED FERRET= (=Mustela nigripes= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 551_)

Of all the varied forms of mammalian life in America, the black-footed

ferret has always impressed me as one of the strangest and most

like a stranded exotic. It is about the size of a mink, but, as the

illustration shows, is entirely different in appearance and has the

general form of a giant weasel. It has no close relative in America,

but bears an extraordinarily close resemblance in size, form, and color

to the Siberian ferret (_Mustela eversmanni_).

The black-footed ferret occurs only in the interior of the United

States, closely restricted to the area inhabited by prairie-dogs,

from the Rocky Mountains eastward and from Montana and the Dakotas to

western Texas. It is known also west of the mountains in Colorado. Like

others of the weasel tribe, it must have a wandering disposition, since

one was captured at 9,800 feet altitude, and another was found drowned

at 10,250 feet in Lake Moraine, Colorado.

These ferrets exist as parasites in the prairie-dog colonies, making

their homes in deserted burrows and feeding on the hapless colonists.

In Kansas their presence in certain localities appears to have been

effective in exterminating prairie-dogs, and similar activities may

account for the deserted “dog towns” which are not infrequently

observed on the plains with no apparent reason for the absence of the

habitants.

They do not appear to be numerous in any part of their range and little

is known concerning their habits. Now and then they are seen moving

about prairie-dog “towns,” passing in and out of the burrows at all

hours of the day, but it is probable that they are mainly nocturnal.

This probability is strengthened by the extreme restlessness shown at

night by captive animals. With the occupation of the country and the

inevitable extinction of the prairie-dog over nearly or quite all of

its range, the black-footed ferret is practically certain to disappear

with its host species.

It has the same bold, inquisitive character shown by the weasel, and

when its interest is excited will stand up on its hind legs and stretch

its long neck to one side and another in an effort to satisfy its

curiosity. When surprised in a “dog town” it commonly retreats to a

burrow, but promptly turns and raises its head high out of the hole to

observe the visitor. As a result ferrets are readily killed by hunters.

When one is captured it will at first hiss and spit like a cat and

fight viciously, but is not difficult to tame.

Although mainly dependent upon prairie-dogs for food, there is little

doubt that ferrets, after the manner of their kind, also kill rabbits

and other rodents in addition to taking whatever birds and birds’ eggs

may be secured. In one instance a black-footed ferret lived for several

days under a wooden sidewalk in the border town of Hays, Kansas, where

it killed the rats harboring there.

[Illustration: TRACK OF A COMMON PIG

Pig and deer tracks are often found in the same places and to a casual

glance may be mistaken for each other, but the bluntness of the pig

track distinguishes it and the clouts or hind hoofs do not show on

level ground, but do in one or two inches of snow or mud.]

[Illustration: FOOTPRINTS OF A WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE

When reduced to scale, the large tracks on the left side are life size,

showing the animal making the ordinary bounds of about 3 inches between

each set of tracks. In speeding, the space may increase to 12 inches.

The tail usually shows in the deermouse track, and this, with the

pairing of the fore paws, is a strong characteristic (see pages 521 and

530).]

=THE LARGE WEASELS, OR STOATS= (=Mustela arcticus= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 554_)

The weasel family includes not only the true weasels, but numerous

other carnivores, as the sable or marten, mink, ferret, skunk, and land

and sea otters, all of which rank among our highly valued fur-bearers.

The large weasel may be distinguished from others of its family by

the small size and the snakelike proportions of the flattened and

pointed head, combined with a long, extremely slender neck and body

and a comparatively long tail. The best known of these animals are the

stoat of the northern parts of the Old World (_Mustela erminea_) and

its close relative in northern North America (_Mustela arcticus_), the

winter skins of which furnish the famed ermine, once sacred to the

trappings of royalty.

The northern weasels are strongly marked by their habit of changing

their brown coat to one of snowy white at the beginning of winter.

To the south the change becomes less complete as the winter snows

decrease, and south of the limit of snow the brown coat is retained

throughout the year. The time of change depends on the coming of the

snow and varies with the year, and the time of resumption of the

brown coat in spring depends in the same way on the season. The white

winter coat of the larger and medium-sized species is accompanied by a

strongly contrasting jet black tip to the tail.

Weasels are circumpolar in distribution and occupy nearly all parts

of Europe, Asia, and North and South America, the greatest number and

variety of species occurring in North America. Surprisingly enough, the

largest of these eminently northern animals is found in the forests

of the American tropics. The Arctic weasel ranges to the northernmost

polar lands of North America, where its presence has been recorded many

times by ice-bound explorers. Other species are more or less generally

distributed over the remainder of the continent. In Mexico I have found

them from sea level to above timberline, at more that 13,000 feet

altitude on the high volcanoes.

The strong personality of the weasels as a group is based mainly on

their extraordinary celerity of movement, their courage, and their

insatiable desire to kill. They are not satisfied with supplying the

call for food, but whenever opportunity arises kill from sheer lust of

slaughter.

Their slender forms enable them to follow their prey to the remotest

depths of their retreats, and that all rodents have an abiding horror

of them is shown by the effect of a weasel’s appearance. Rabbits,

although many times their size, become easy victims, and in one

instance when a large rat, which had fought its human captor viciously,

was put in a cage with a weasel, it at once lost all its courage and

permitted itself to be killed without an effort at defense.

Weasels are wonderfully endowed for their predatory work and are

undoubtedly the most perfectly organized machines for killing that

have been developed among mammals. Their keen eyes are constantly alert

to observe everything about them, their ears are attuned to catch the

faintest squeak of a mouse or cry of any other small animal, and their

powers of scent are very great. When hunting they dart in and out of

the holes of rodents, among crevices in the rocks, or through brush

piles, pausing now and then to stand upright on their hind feet, the

head swaying to and fro as they peer about. The squeak of a mouse

starts them instantly in search of it, and like a dog they trail

rabbits and other rodents by scent.

As a rule, weasels are terrestrial, but in wooded country they climb

trees and leap from branch to branch with all the ease of squirrels. In

most localities they are not common, but now and then, where conditions

are peculiarly favorable, they become numerous. At one naturalist’s

camp in the upper Yukon they were surprisingly abundant, so much so

that more than forty were caught in a few days in traps set among

broken rocks. There they were extremely bold, hunting for their prey

among the rocks within a few feet of the trappers.

The prey of weasels includes almost every kind of small rodent

and bird living within their territory. They feed especially upon

northern hares, cottontails, conies, ground squirrels, chipmunks, tree

squirrels, wood rats, mice, lemmings, quail, ptarmigan, spruce and

ruffed grouse, ducks, and numberless other small species. They are also

very destructive to domestic fowl, often killing thirty or forty in a

night. They unhesitatingly attack rodents many times their own weight.

Once when hunting on the open plain near the southern end of the

Mexican table-land, I saw at some distance what appeared to be a brown

ball rolling about on the ground. This was soon determined to be a

weasel fastened to one of the large and powerful pocket gophers of

that region. The weasel had its teeth set in the back of the neck of

the gopher, while the latter was blindly trying to tear itself loose.

I fired an ineffectual shot at the weasel and it vanished like a flash

in the open tunnel of the gopher. As I drew near, the gopher, still in

fighting mood, faced me with bared teeth. Later, when I removed its

skin, I found that the weasel had torn loose the attachment of the

heavy neck muscles to the back of the skull until only a thin layer

remained to protect the spinal column. This had been accomplished

without breaking the thin, but extremely tough, skin of the gopher.

When a weasel is attacking an animal which resists, like a large ground

squirrel, it raises its head and sways its long neck back and forth,

its eyes glittering with excitement as it watches for an opening to

spring forward and seize its prey. Its attack is always aimed at a

vital point, commonly the brain, the back of the neck, or the jugular

vein on the side.

Weasels dig their own burrows under the shelter of slide rock, ledges,

stone walls, stumps, and outbuildings, or they occupy hollow trees and

the deserted burrows of other animals. In nests thus safely located

they have one litter containing an average of from four to six, but

sometimes numbering up to twelve, young a year. They are born at any

time from April to June, according to the latitude. The number of

young in a litter is enough to render weasels very abundant, but this

is rarely the case, and raises the question as to the influence which

holds their number in check.

They are both nocturnal and diurnal, apparently in almost equal degree,

since they are frequently observed hunting in the middle of the

day, while their nocturnal raids on poultry houses testify to their

activities at night. When hunting they appear like sinister shadows and

are persistent in pursuit. The young commonly remain with the female

until nearly or quite grown and follow her closely on hunting-trips. It

is interesting to see a pack of these deadly carnivores working, the

mother leading and the young skirmishing on all sides, now spreading

out, now closing in, like a pack of miniature hounds. On these family

hunting parties, however, they usually keep close to the rocks, logs,

brush, or other cover.

Themselves subject to the law of fang and claw, weasels are killed and

eaten by wolves, coyotes, foxes, and various birds of prey. Their very

lack of fear perhaps in many cases leads to their destruction.

These representatives of the primitive woodland life continue to occupy

practically all of their original range. They visit farms in all parts

of the country and I have seen them near the outskirts of Washington.

It is well that weasels are not abundant, for beasts with such innate

ferocity and love of killing would otherwise be a menace to the

existence of many useful species of birds and mammals, especially the

game birds. In many places they live almost entirely on mice, and

there they should be left unmolested; but whenever they locate in

the vicinity of a chicken yard the owner will do well to take proper

measures for protection.

=THE LEAST WEASEL= (=Mustela rixosus= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 554_)

In addition to the larger members of the tribe briefly described in the

foregoing sketch, the true weasels include another group of species, so

small they may appropriately be termed the dwarfs of their kind. They

vary from a half to less than a fourth the size of the larger weasels,

but have the same characteristic form and proportions, except that

the tail is very short and never tipped with black. Like the larger

species, they change their brown summer coat for white at the beginning

of winter and back again in spring.

The least weasels are also circumpolar in distribution, but are limited

to the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. In England

and other parts of the Old World the group is represented by the

well-known species _Mustela vulgaris_. In North America several species

are known which, between them, share all the continent from the Arctic

coast south to Nebraska and Pennsylvania. On the desolate islands

extending from the mainland far toward the Pole their place seems to be

taken by the ermine.

[Illustration: THE COMMON BROWN RAT

The large series shows the ordinary foraging gait; the smaller one, to

the right, shows the travel at low speed. In all, the tail mark is a

strong feature (see pages 525 and 531).]

The dwarf weasels appear to be less numerous and, as a consequence,

less known in most parts of America than in England and northern

Europe. Our most northern species, _Mustela rixosa_, sometimes called

the “mouse weasel,” occupies Alaska and northern Canada and has the

distinction of being the smallest known species of carnivore in the

world. In this connection it is interesting to note that in Alaska we

have associated on the same ground the least weasel and the great brown

bear, the smallest and the largest living carnivores.

Least weasels are characterized by the same swift alertness and

boldness so marked in the larger species. In fact they are, if

possible, even quicker in their movements. Once when camping in

spring among scattered snowbanks on the coast of Bering Sea, I had an

excellent opportunity to witness their almost incredible quickness.

Early in the morning one suddenly appeared on the margin of a snowbank

within a few feet, and after craning its neck one way and the other,

as though to get a better view of me, it vanished, and then appeared

so abruptly on a snowbank three or four yards away that it was almost

impossible to follow it with the eye. It was beginning to take on its

summer coat of brown and was extremely difficult to locate amid the

scattered patches of snow and bare moss of the tundra. Certainly no

other mammal can have such flash-like powers of movement.

They feed mainly on mice, lemmings, shrews, small birds, their eggs and

young, and insects. Mice furnish a large proportion of their prey and

weasels have often been seen following the runways of field mice. Their

small size enables them to pursue mice into their underground workings

as readily as a ferret enters a rabbit burrow. They also climb trees

and bushes with great agility, although nearly always seeking their

victims on the ground. The mice upon which they prey are often so much

larger than the weasels that they cannot be dragged into the dens. The

weasels continue in full activity throughout the winter and constantly

burrow into the snow in search of their prey. In the snow or in the

ground the holes of this animal are about the diameter of one’s finger.

In the Old World the small weasels are reported to have several litters

in a season, each containing five or six young. At Point Barrow,

Alaska, a female captured on June 12 still contained twelve embryos.

This indicates that only one litter a year would be born there, and

that _Mustela rixosa_ is more prolific than its European representative.

In the more southern latitude least weasels live in forests and about

farms, sheltering themselves under logs, brush piles, stone walls,

and similar cover. They are always restless and filled with curiosity

regarding anything of unusual appearance. When one encounters a man

it shows no fear, but slyly moving from one shelter to another, now

advancing and now retreating, examines the stranger carefully before

going on its way. As they devote practically their entire lives to the

destruction of field mice, they are valuable friends of the farmer

and should have his good will and protection. Unfortunately for these

weasels, no discrimination is shown between them and their larger

relatives of more injurious habits.

Among the natives of Alaska all weasels are looked upon with great

respect on account of their prowess as hunters. I found this feeling

peculiarly strong among the Eskimos, whose existence for ages has

depended so largely on the products of the chase. Among them the

capture of a weasel meant good luck to the hunter, and to take the

rarer least weasel was considered a happy omen. The head and entire

skin of the least weasel was highly prized for wearing as an amulet or

fetich. Young men eagerly purchased them, paying the full value of a

prime marten skin in order to wear them as a personal adornment, that

they might thus become endowed with the hunting prowess of this fierce

little carnivore. Fathers often bought them to attach to the belts of

their small sons, so that the youthful hunters might become imbued with

the spirit of this “little chief” among mammals.

=THE AMERICAN MINK= (=Mustela vison= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 555_)

In the American mink we have one of the most widely known and valuable

fur-bearers of the weasel family. It is a long-bodied animal, but

more heavily proportioned than the weasel, and attains a weight of

from one and one-half to more than two pounds. It has short legs and

walks slowly and rather clumsily with the back arched. When desiring

to travel rapidly it moves in a series of rapid easy bounds which it

appears able to continue tirelessly.

[Illustration: THE TRACK OF A FOX

The size, the small pads, and the set of all feet nearly in one line

are strong features, as also is the tail touch.]

The minks form a small group of species circumpolar in distribution,

and well known in Europe, northern Asia, and in North America. The

European animal is closely similar to the North American species and

all have the same amphibious habits. The American minks include several

different geographic races, which are distributed over all the northern

part of the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the

mouths of the Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers to the Gulf coast in the

United States. They are absent from the arid Southwestern States.

Few species are more perfectly adapted to a double mode of life

than the mink. It is equally at home slyly searching thickets and

bottom-land forests for prey or seeking it with otter-like prowess

beneath the water. It is a restless animal, active both by day and by

night, although mainly nocturnal.

While usually having definite dens to which they return, minks wander

widely and for so small an animal hunt over a large territory and pass

from one body of water to another. Their wanderings are most pronounced

in fall and again during the mating in spring. They are solitary, their

companionship with one another not outliving the mating period.

Mink dens are located wherever a safe and convenient shelter is

available, and may be a hole in a bank, made by a muskrat or other

animal, a cavity under the roots of a tree, a hollow log, a hollow

stump, or other place. The nest is made of grass and leaves lined with

feathers, hair, and other soft material. A single litter of from four

to twelve small and naked young is born during April or May.

The young remain with the mother throughout the summer, and do not

leave her to establish themselves until fall, when they are nearly

grown. When captured at an early age they are playful and become

attached to the person who cares for them. When caught in a trap they

become fiercely aggressive, often uttering squalling shrieks, baring

their teeth, and fronting their captor with a truculent air of savage

rage. The adults have scent sacs located under the tail like those

of a skunk. When angry or much excited they can emit from these an

exceedingly acrid and offensive odor, but have no power to eject it

forcibly at an enemy.

Minks are bold and courageous in their attitude toward other animals,

and attack and kill for food species heavier than themselves, like

the varying hare and the muskrat. On land they are persistent

hunters, trailing their prey skillfully by scent. They eat mice,

rats, chipmunks, squirrels, and birds and birds’ eggs of many kinds,

including waterfowl, oven-birds, and other ground-frequenting species.

About the waterside they vary this diet by capturing fish of many

kinds, which they pursue in the water, snakes, frogs, salamanders,

insects, crustaceans, and mussels.

Their prowess is shown by their raids on chicken-houses, where they

often kill many grown fowls in a night, and sometimes drag birds

heavier than themselves long distances to their dens. A remarkable

indication of the varied menu of the mink was exhibited in a nest found

by Dr. C. H. Merriam, where the owner had gathered the bodies of a

muskrat, a red squirrel, and a downy woodpecker.

The value of the mink’s furry coat has led to its steady pursuit by

trappers in all climes, from the coast of Florida to the borders of

sluggish streams on Arctic tundras. Millions of them have fallen

victims to this warfare and their skins have gone to adorn mankind. In

spite of this the mink today occupies all its original territory, and

each year yields a fresh harvest of furs.

The mink by preference is a forest animal, living along the wooded

bottom-lands of rivers or the thicket-grown borders of small streams,

where the rich vegetation gives abundance of shelter and at the same

time attracts a wealth of small mammals and birds on which it may prey.

From these secure coverts it wanders through the surrounding country at

night, visiting many chicken-houses on farms and leaving devastation

behind. It is persistent and bold in such forays and in locations near

its haunts great care must be exercised to guard against it. Minks have

repeatedly raided the enclosures of the National Zoological Park in

Washington.

Now and then, on the banks of some wild stream, one will try to

appropriate the catch lying at the very feet of a lone fisherman.

A naturalist fishing on a stream in northern Canada, seeing a mink

making free with his catch, set a small steel trap on the bare ground,

and holding the attached chain in one hand raised and slowly drew

toward him the fish upon which the mink was feeding. The mink, without

hesitation, followed the fish and was caught in the trap.

An abundance of food may modify the preference of the mink for wooded

or partly wooded country. The marshy and treeless tundra lying near

sea-level in the triangle between the coast of Bering Sea, and the

lower parts of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers offers such an attractive

situation differing from their usual haunts. The sluggish streams and

numberless ponds abound with small fish four to five inches long. Minks

swarm in this area to such an extent that the Eskimos who inhabit the

district are known among the natives of the surrounding region as the

“mink people.” Steel traps are used there, but a primitive method is

even more successful. A wicker fence is built across a narrow stream

and a small fyke fish-trap placed in it. In swimming along the stream

minks pass into the trap like fish, and I knew of from 10 to 15 being

thus taken in one day.

During my residence in that region from 10,000 to 15,000 mink skins

were caught in this tundra district annually, and the supply appeared

to be inexhaustible. With the growing occupation of the continent and

the increasing demand for furs, however, the numbers of the mink must

surely decrease. To forestall the shortage of furs that seems imminent,

efforts are now being made to establish fur farming to replace the

declining supply of wild furs with those grown under domestication. The

mink appears to be well adapted to successful breeding in captivity.

The main question to solve is the relation of the cost of caring for

the animals to the value of its pelt in the market.

=THE MARTEN, OR AMERICAN SABLE= (=Martes americana= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 555_)

Wild animals possess an endless variety of mental traits which endow

them in many instances with marked individualities. Few are more

strongly characterized in this respect than the marten. One of the

most graceful and beautiful of our forest animals, it frequents the

more inaccessible parts of the wilderness and retires shyly before the

inroads of the settler’s ax. Its rich brown coat, so highly prized

that the pursuit of it goes on winter after winter in all the remote

forests of the North, is a source of danger threatening the existence

of the species. The full-grown animal weighs five or six pounds and

measures nearly three feet in length.

The martens are circumpolar in distribution, and the several species

occupy northern lands from England, Europe, and northern Asia to North

America. Of the Old World species, the Siberian sable is best known on

account of the beauty of its fine, rich fur, which renders it the most

valued of all in the fur markets of the world.

The North American marten is a close relative of the Siberian species,

and occupies all the wooded parts of North America from the northern

limit of trees southward in the forested mountains to Pennsylvania, New

Mexico, and the southern part of the Sierra Nevada in California.

Like other members of the weasel tribe, the marten is a fierce and

merciless creature of rapine, but unlike the mink and weasel, it avoids

the abodes of man and loves the remotest depths of the wilderness.

Martens are endowed with an exceedingly nervous and excitable

temperament, combined with all the flashing quickness of weasels. They

are more restless than any other among the larger species of their

notably restless tribe, and couple with this extraordinary and tireless

vigor. This is admirably shown in captivity, when by the hour they

dart back and forth, up and down and around their cages with almost

incredible speed.

In the forest they climb trees and jump from branch to branch with

all the agility of a squirrel--in fact, they pursue and capture red

squirrels in fair chase, and have been seen in pursuit of the big

California gray squirrel (_Sciurus griseus_). On the ground they move

about quickly, hunting weasel-like, under brush piles and other cover.

Practically every living thing within their power falls victim to their

rapacity. They eat minks, weasels, squirrels, chipmunks, wood rats,

mice of many kinds, conies, snowshoe hares, ruffed and spruce grouse,

and smaller birds of all kinds and their eggs, as well as frogs, fish,

beetles, crickets, beechnuts, and a variety of small wild fruits.

Unlike minks and weasels, they are not known to kill wantonly more than

they need for food.

They make nests of grass, moss, and leaves in hollow trees, under logs,

among rocks, and in holes in the ground. Sometimes they have been found

in possession of a red squirrel’s nest, probably after having slain and

devoured the owner.

The young, varying from one to eight in number, are born in April

or May. At first they are naked and helpless, but when large enough

accompany the mother on her search for food. This period of schooling

lasts until they are forced to take up their separate lives with the

approach of winter. Thenceforth they are among the most solitary of

animals, showing fierce antagonism toward one another whenever they

meet, and associating only during a brief period in the mating season

in February or March. Martens show a cold-blooded ferocity toward one

another that often renders it dangerous to put two or more in the same

cage. When placed in a cage together the male very commonly kills the

female by biting her through the skull. At times they utter a loud,

shrill squall or shriek, and in traps hiss, growl, and sometimes bark.

Among the dense forests of spruce and lodge-pole pine high up in

the mountains of Colorado, martens are sometimes hunted on skis in

midwinter, an exciting and often, on these rugged slopes, a dangerous

sport. They are not wary about traps and are readily caught by

deadfalls and other rude contrivances as well as by steel traps. In

Colorado and Montana hundreds of their skins are taken by trappers

every winter.

In Siberia the sable has been exterminated by hunting in many

districts, and before the present war began had become so scarce in

others that the Russian Government closed the season for them for a

period of years over nearly all of their range. The same reduction in

the numbers of our marten has occurred in most parts of Alaska and

elsewhere in its range, and its only hope against extermination lies in

stringent protection. Protective regulations are already in force in

Alaska.

During the early fur-trading days in northern Canada the number

of martens varied between comparative abundance and rarity. These

variations were said to occur about every ten years. Some claimed the

decrease was due to a migration which the martens were believed to make

from one region to another, just as was believed of the lynx. The lack

of a corresponding increase in surrounding districts, where trading

posts were located, effectually disproved the migration theory. There

is little doubt that the increase of martens was due to a reproductive

response to a plentiful food supply during years when mice or snowshoe

hares were abundant and their decrease was due to a lessening of the

numbers of these food animals.

Efforts are being made to domesticate martens and raise them for their

skins on fur farms. The main difficulty so far encountered lies in

the fiendish manner in which the old males kill the females and the

younger males. Although always nervous, they are not difficult to tame,

and will be most entertaining and attractive animals to rear if their

savage natures can be sufficiently overcome.

=THE LITTLE SPOTTED SKUNK= (=Spilogale putorius= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 558_)

The skunks form a distinct section of the weasel family, limited to

North and South America. The group is divided into three well-marked

sections. One of these, the little spotted skunks, is distinguished

from all other mammals by the curious and pleasing symmetry of the

black and white markings of the animals. Few more beautiful fur

garments are made than those from the skins of these animals in their

natural colors. These skunks are smaller than any members of the other

groups, varying from a little larger than a large chipmunk to the size

of a fox squirrel.

[Illustration: THE COMMON WOODCHUCK, OR AMERICAN MARMOT (SEE PAGES

533-534)

Its track shows this animal’s kinship with the squirrels. The small

series, to the left, show the ordinary ambling pace. When speeding,

it sets its feet much like the little, or eastern, chipmunk (see page

580).]

Little spotted skunks include several species and geographic races. All

are limited to North America and are rather irregularly distributed

from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific and from Virginia, Minnesota,

Wyoming, and southern British Columbia southward to the Gulf coast, to

the end of Lower California, and through Mexico and Central America to

Costa Rica. They inhabit a variety of climatic conditions, from the

rocky ledges high up on the slopes of the western mountains to the hot

desert plains of the Southwest, and to partly forested regions in both

temperate and tropical lands. In different parts of the United States

they have several other names, including “civet,” “civet cat,” and

“hydrophobia skunk.”

The spotted skunks make their homes in whatever shelter is most

convenient, whether it be clefts in rocky ledges, slide rock, hollows

in logs or stumps, holes dug by themselves in banks or under the

shelter of cactuses or other thorny vegetation, the deserted holes of

burrowing owls in Florida, or the old dens of various kinds of mammals

elsewhere. Thickets, open woods, ocean beaches, and the vicinity of

deserted or even occupied buildings on ranches are equally welcome

haunts. On the plains of Arizona they have been known to live inside

the mummified carcass of a cow, the sun-dried hide of which made an

impregnable cover. They have a single litter of from two to six young

each year.

Their diet is fully as varied as that of others of the weasel kind, but

is made up mainly of insects and other forms injurious to agriculture,

including grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and larvæ of many kinds.

They feed also on flesh whenever possible and prey on wood rats, mice

of many kinds, small ground squirrels, small birds and their eggs,

young chickens, lizards, salamanders, and crawfish. This carnivorous

diet is further varied with mushrooms, peanuts, persimmons, cactus

fruit, and other small fruits. Sometimes the animals locate about

occupied habitations in primitive communities, where they give good

service by killing the house rats, mice, and cockroaches on the

premises. On one occasion a spotted skunk was detected cunningly

removing the downy chicks from under a brooding hen without disturbing

her.

In comparison with the other skunks these little animals are extremely

agile. They are strictly nocturnal and when pursued at night by dogs

will climb to safety in a tree like a squirrel. When caught in a trap

they struggle and fight far more vigorously than their big relatives.

They usually carry the tail in a somewhat elevated position, but when

danger threatens hold it upright like a warning signal. If the enemy

fails to take heed they shoot two little spraylike jets of liquid

bearing the usual offensive skunk odor, and the victim retires without

honor.

In writing of these skunks about the Valley of Mexico, in 1628, Dr.

Hernandez tells us that “the powerful arm which they use when in

peril is the insupportable gas they throw out behind which condenses

the surrounding atmosphere so that, as one grave missionary says, it

appears as though one could feel it.”

That the little spotted skunk is subject to rabies and has communicated

it to many men in the West is unquestionable. It usually bites men who

are sleeping on the ground in its haunts, as they commonly do on the

western stock ranges.

I have personally known of several instances in northern Arizona of

men being bitten by them. The head, face, and hands, being uncovered,

are the points attacked. One man in the mountains south of Winslow,

Arizona, was bitten on the top of his head in April, 1910, but paid no

attention to the slight wound until two months later when he began to

have spasms. He then hurried to town and died in great agony the next

day. The year following a man in the same district was bitten in the

face, and seizing the animal threw it from him in such a manner that it

fell on his brother and bit him before he awakened. Both men were given

the Pasteur treatment and had no further trouble.

On New Year’s night of 1906, while I was at the village of Cape

San Lucas, at the extreme southern end of the Peninsula of Lower

California, a large-sized old male spotted skunk entered the open door

of a neighboring house and bit through the upper lip of a little girl

sleeping on the floor. Her screams brought her father to the rescue,

and with a well-aimed blow he killed the offender. The next morning the

skunk was brought to me and added to my collection. As I left a few

days later I never learned the result of this bite, but while there

was informed that a man had died the previous year from a similar

bite. The occasional instances of this kind are remembered and appear

more numerous than they are in fact. For years many men have slept in

the open where these animals abound, without being molested. It is

interesting to find that when the voyager Duhaut-Cilly visited the Cape

in 1826, the natives feared these skunks because they entered houses at

night, biting people and infecting them with hydrophobia.

The little spotted skunks have extremely animated, playful natures,

as I have had several occasions to observe. Two instances serve to

illustrate this. Once at the mouth of a canyon at the southern end of

the San Joaquin Valley, California, I camped several days at a deserted

ranch. At night I spread my blankets on the bare floor of the house,

from which the doors were gone. Under it led several burrows of some

animal which I at first supposed to be a ground squirrel. Each night

while there I was awakened by the sound of little footfalls padding

rapidly about over the floor on which I was sleeping, and in the dim

light from the moon could see two or three little spotted skunks

pursuing one another around me like playful kittens. At the slightest

movement on my part they dashed out the door and into their dens under

the house. As there was no food of any kind in this room, it was

evident that the little fellows were there for a frolic on the smooth

board floor.

On another occasion in the mountains of San Luis Potosi, on the Mexican

table-land, I found a spring to which bears were coming for water at

night. As the bears here appeared to be strictly nocturnal. I ensconced

myself in the evening with a dark lantern, amid some small bushes,

against a large pine log which sloped downward to the bottom of the

gulch near the spring, with the plan to welcome any bears which might

come in. An hour or more after dark the clinking rattle of small stones

on the far side of the gulch indicated the presence of some animal. The

light from the lantern was flashed on the spot and the rifle lowered

with exasperation as, running back and forth, turning over stones in

search of insects, a spotted skunk was revealed. The movements of this

unwelcome visitor were extremely light and graceful, and in my interest

in watching them, for a time I forgot the bear. Two or three hours

passed and the skunk tired of the hillside and came down to the spring,

where he found the offal from a deer which I had placed there for bait.

This gave him more to do, and after I had listened to him worry the

meat for awhile, I turned on the light and was entertained by the sight

thus revealed. The skunk appeared to have a persistent desire to drag

away the offal many times his weight. He would seize the edge of one of

the lungs and after a hard struggle would get it up on one edge, when

the burden would turn over with a flap, whirling the skunk flat on his

back each time. Immediately scrambling to his feet, he would give the

meat a fierce shake of resentment and repeat the performance.

After a long time the moon arose and the skunk could be plainly seen

running back and forth playfully, now biting at the meat and now

turning over stones apparently in sheer exuberance of spirit. Then he

suddenly mounted the lower end of the log and came galloping up it

until he was close to my shoulder. There he stopped and, coming as near

as possible, extended his nose within a few inches of my face, and

for minute or more stood trying to satisfy himself about this strange

object. Satisfied at last, he turned and galloped back down the log

and resumed his antics in the gulch, finally working close to the

bank three or four yards below me. There he found many small stones

and had a fine time rattling them about until I decided that with

this disturbing presence I should have little chance for other game.

Finding a convenient stone, and locating the skunk as well as possible

from the sounds, I tossed it over to try and frighten him away. My

aim was too true, for the characteristic skunk retort filled the air

with suffocating fumes and I immediately lost interest in further bear

hunting.

[Illustration: THE TRAIL OF THE EASTERN CHIPMUNK

The track is much like that of the fox squirrel, but usually the fore

feet are a little, or quite, one behind the other and, of course, much

smaller. No tail mark is ever seen (see pages 542 and 549).]

=THE COMMON SKUNK= (=Mephitis mephitis= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 558_)

Probably no American mammal is more generally known and less popular

than the skunk. This current odium is due wholly to its possession

of a scent sac of malodorous fluid, which it distributes with prompt

accuracy when annoyed. The possession of this method of defense is

common to all skunks. The term “pole-cat,” sometimes given to all kinds

of skunks, is the misuse of a name given Old World martens of several

species and to the Cape pole-cat, a South African animal which in form

and markings, including the plumelike tail, is remarkably like some of

our smaller skunks.

In the preceding article an account was given of the spotted skunks,

smallest of the three groups into which these animals are divided. The

common skunk and its relatives form another group, which contains some

of the larger species of their kind, some of them weighing up to ten

pounds or more. These are the typical skunks, so familiar in most parts

of the United States, and distinguished by the disproportionately large

size of the posterior half of the body and the long, plumelike tail.

The common skunk, with its closely related species, is generally

distributed in all varieties of country, except in deep forests and

on waterless desert plains. It ranges from the Atlantic coast to the

Pacific and from Hudson Bay and Great Slave Lake southward to the

highlands of Guatemala. The vertical range extends from sea-level up to

above timberline in Mexico, where I found one living in a burrow it had

dug under a rock at 13,800 feet altitude on the Cofre de Perote, Vera

Cruz.

Skunks are most common in areas of mixed woodland and fields, in valley

bottoms, and along the brushy borders of creeks and rocky canyons.

One of their marked characteristics is a fondness for the vicinity of

man. They frequently visit his premises, taking up quarters beneath

outbuildings or even under the house itself.

Any convenient shelter appears to satisfy them for a home, and they

will occupy the deserted burrows of other animals, small cavities among

the rocks, a hollow log, or a hole dug by themselves. A warm nest

of grass and leaves is made at the end of the den, where the single

litter of young, containing from four to ten, is born in April or May.

As soon as the young are old enough they follow the mother, keeping

close behind her, often in a long single file along a trail. They are

mainly nocturnal, but in summer the mother frequently starts out on

an excursion with her young an hour or two before sunset and they may

remain abroad all night.

The young family remains united through the following winter, which

accounts for finding at times from eight to a dozen in a den. In all

the northern parts of their range they hibernate during the two to

four months of severest cold weather, coming out sometimes during mild

periods. When the season of hibernation ends the family scatters and

mating begins. One solitary skunk was found in Canada hibernating in

the same burrow, but in a separate chamber, with a woodchuck, evidently

an unbidden guest.

[Illustration: THE TRACKS OF A RUSTY FOX SQUIRREL AND FOX SQUIRREL

The exaggerated pads of the squirrel foot are a strong feature of this

track. It is typical in the pairing of the fore feet, much more so than

that of the gray squirrel. There is never a tail mark in this track

(see pages 547 and 561).]

As in the case of their relatives, the common skunks are omnivorous,

but feed mainly upon insects and rodents injurious to agriculture. They

are known to eat great quantities of grasshoppers, besides crickets,

cicadas, May beetles, wasps, and larvæ of many kinds. One killed in New

Mexico had its stomach crammed with honey bees. Wherever possible they

prey upon small rodents, as mice, wood rats, and small spermophiles. To

these may be added ground-nesting birds and their eggs, lizards, turtle

eggs, snakes, frogs, salamanders, fish, crustaceans, and numerous small

fruits. Now and then they visit the farmers’ chicken yards with such

disastrous consequences that in many country districts the animals are

killed at sight.

It is pleasing to record that a more intelligent view of their real

value to farmers, through their destruction of farm pests, is rapidly

gaining ground, and they are now being protected in many States. One

of their worst traits is their destructiveness to breeding game birds,

both upland species, and especially the waterfowl.

Skunks walk on the soles of their feet instead of on their toes, as

do so many mammals. The common skunks are wholly terrestrial and move

with the deliberation of one without fear of personal violence or of

having his dignity assailed. Long experience has taught them that the

right of way is theirs. As they amble slowly along, the tail is carried

slightly elevated, and when the owner is suspicious of attack, it is

raised and the hairs hang drooping like a great plume, conspicuous and

unmistakable. If the disturber still refuses to take the hint, a rear

view is promptly presented and a discharge made that puts most enemies

to flight. Some have thought that the odorous liquid is scattered by

the long hairs of the tail, but in fact it is ejected in fine jets from

two little tubes connected with the scent sacs on each side of the vent.

[Illustration: A FULL SIZE RENDERING OF A FOX SQUIRREL TRACK

Illustrations of the arrangement of this track when the animal is

foraging and traveling are shown on page 581.]

When mildly annoyed the big skunks stamp their front feet on the ground

and utter little growls of displeasure. By some effort they can be

urged into a retreat which may take the form of a clumsy gallop. They

are known occasionally to swim streams voluntarily, and even to cross

rivers, probably urged by the instinct that so often forces animals of

all kinds to move to new feeding grounds.

Although usually safe from annoyance through the protective armament,

many skunks, especially the young, each year fall victim to natural

enemies, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, badgers, and great horned

owls.

The flesh of the skunk is a favorite food among certain tribes of

Canadian Indians, and many white men have pronounced it exceedingly

palatable, even claiming its superiority over the flesh of domestic

fowls. In the narrative of his expedition through the Canadian

wilderness many years ago, the naturalist Drummond recorded that when

the party was about a day’s journey from Carleton House it had the good

fortune to kill a skunk, “which afforded us a comfortable meal.” In the

Valley of Mexico I found the natives prize the flesh of these animals

as a cure for a certain loathsome disease.

It is well known that large skunks are often extremely fat. The oil

produced from them is clear and is said to have unusually penetrating

qualities. For many years there was a demand for this oil for various

medicinal purposes.

During recent years the fur of skunks has come into great demand, and

good prices are paid for prime skins. The animals are so numerous and

the catch is so large that they now rank among the most valuable of our

fur-bearers. They are gentle animals which readily become domesticated

and breed freely in confinement, and many efforts are being made to

establish skunk farms. Success in such farming depends wholly on the

outlay for upkeep. Skunk farming will probably pay better as a side

line, like chickens on the ordinary farm, than to establish regular fur

farms. The scent sac may be removed by a slight surgical operation, so

there need be no trouble from that source. Common skunks when taken

young make affectionate and entertaining pets. They become as tame and

playful as kittens, and are vastly more intelligent and interesting.

=THE HOG-NOSED SKUNK= (=Conepatus mesoleucus= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 559_)

The third and last group of skunks contains a number of species showing

well-marked differences from the two groups already described. The

species vary in size, but among them is included the largest of all

skunks. All are characterized by comparatively short hair, especially

on the tail, and this appendage lacks the plumelike appearance observed

in other skunks. The nose is prolonged into a distinct “snout,” naked

on the top and sides and evidently used for rooting in the earth after

the manner of a pig. In addition, the front feet are armed with long,

heavy claws, and the front legs and shoulders are provided with a

strong muscular development for digging, as in a badger. This likeness

has led to the use in some places of the appropriate name “badger

skunk” for these animals. The single white stripe along the back, and

including the tail, is a common pattern with these skunks, but this

marking is considerably varied, as in the common species.

[Illustration: WOLVERINE

Its weasel kinship is seen in the wolverine track. Occasionally, not

always, its fifth toe shows. The track is not plantigrade, and a single

track is easily mistaken for that of a wolf.]

The hog-nosed skunks are the only representatives of the skunk tribe

in South America, where various species occupy a large part of the

continent. They appear to form a South American group of mammals which

has extended its range northward through Central America, Mexico, and

across the border of the United States to central Texas, New Mexico,

and Arizona. In Mexico they range from sea-level to above 10,000 feet

altitude on the mountains of the interior.

The hair on these skunks is coarse and harsh, lacking the qualities

which render the coats of their northern relatives so valuable. Where

their range coincides with that of the common skunks, the local

distribution of the two is practically the same. They live along the

bottom-lands of watercourses, where vegetation is abundant and the

supply of food most plentiful, or in canyons and on rocky mountain

slopes.

For shelter they dig their own burrows, usually in a bank, or under a

rock, or the roots of a tree, but do not hesitate to take possession

of the deserted burrows of other animals, or of natural cavities among

the rocks. Owing to their strictly nocturnal habits, they are much less

frequently seen than the common skunks, even in localities where they

are numerous. In fact it is only within the last few years that their

presence in many parts of the southwestern border has become known.

[Illustration: THE TRACK OF THE WEASEL

The unusual space between the fore and hind feet in the middle of

the left series is often seen. Sometimes the tail mark is there and

sometimes not. Sometimes the trail is like that of a small mink. The

toes seldom show (see pages 554 and 572).]

Although both the little spotted and common skunks live mainly on

insects, the hog-nosed skunks are even more insectivorous in their

feeding habits. The bare snout appears to be used constantly for the

purpose of rooting out beetles, grubs, and larvæ of various kinds from

the ground.

On the highlands of Mexico I have many times camped in localities where

patches of ground were rooted up nightly by these skunks to a depth

of two or three inches as thoroughly as might have been done by small

pigs. In such places I repeatedly failed to capture them by traps

baited with meat, the insects and grubs they were finding apparently

being more attractive food. I have had similar failures in trapping for

coyotes with meat bait in localities where they were feeding fat on

swarms of large beetles and crickets. The persistence with which the

hog-nosed skunks hunt insects renders them a valuable aid to farmers.

In addition to grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, flies, grubs, and other

larvæ, and many other insects, they are known to eat wood rats, mice,

and the small fruit of cactuses and other plants. The stomach of one of

these skunks examined in Texas contained about 400 beetles.

One Texas naturalist writes that he has lost a number of young kids

which had their noses bitten off, and in one instance caught one of

these skunks mutilating a kid in this manner. He also states that they

pull down and eat corn when it is in the “roasting-ear” stage.

Far less is known concerning the habits of hog-nosed skunks than of

the other species of these animals. The number of young appears to be

small, judging from the record of a single embryo found in one animal

and in another instance of two young found in a nest located in a

hollow stump. They have a curiously stupid, sluggish manner and have

even less vivacity than the somewhat sedate common skunk. No use is

made of their skins in this country or in Mexico, but the gigantic

natives of Patagonia make robes of them which are worn like great

cloaks.

=THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO= (=Dasypus novemcincta= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 559_)

Armadillos are distinguished from other mammals by having the nearly,

or quite, hairless skin developed into a bony armor covering the

upperparts of the head and body and all of the tail. They lack teeth in

the front of both upper and lower jaws, and are members of the group of

toothless animals which includes the ant-eaters. The insects they feed

on are licked up by the sticky surface of their extensile tongues.

In the remote past many species of armadillos, some of gigantic size,

roamed the plains of South America, and a number of small species

still exist there. These animals are peculiar to America and have their

center of abundance in the southern continent.

The nine-banded species ranges over an enormous territory and is

subdivided into a number of geographic races, living from southern

Texas through Mexico and Central America to Argentina. In Mexico its

vertical distribution extends from sea-level up to an altitude of about

10,000 feet on the mountains of the interior. Like the hog-nosed skunk,

it no doubt originated as a member of the South American fauna and has

spread northward to its present limits. It is one of the larger of the

living representatives of this curious group of animals and reaches a

weight of from twelve to fifteen pounds.

As might be surmised from its appearance, the armadillo is a stupid

animal, living a monotonous life of restricted activities. Its sight

and hearing are poor, and the armored skin gives it a stiff-legged

gait and immobile body. From these characteristics, combined with the

small head hung low on a short neck, it has in life an odd resemblance

in both form and motion to a small pig; it jogs along in its trails or

from one feeding place to another with the same little stiff trotting

gait and self-centered air. If alarmed it will break into a clumsy

gallop, but moves so slowly that it may be overtaken by a man on foot.

So poor is its eyesight that a person may approach openly within about

thirty yards before being noticed.

When alarmed the armadillo immediately runs to the shelter of its

burrow, but may easily be caught in one’s hands, especially if

intercepted on the way to its den. When caught it will struggle to

escape, and while it may coil up in a ball in the presence of a dog

or other mammal foe, I never saw one try to protect itself in this

way. While presumably serving for protective purposes, the armor is

flexible on the sides of the body, and I have found the remains of many

armadillos where they had been killed and eaten by coyotes or other

predatory beasts. The armor would no doubt be sufficient protection to

enable them to escape to cover from the attack of birds of prey. They

are mainly nocturnal animals, but are frequently seen abroad by day and

in some places appear to be out equally by day or night.

This armadillo lives by preference amid the cover afforded by forests,

brushy jungle, tall grass, or other vegetation. In the midst of such

shelter it usually digs its own burrow a few yards deep in a bank or

hill slope, beneath a stump, under the roots of a tree, or a rock, or

even on level ground. It will also occupy small caves in limestone

rock. At times it shows a piglike fondness for a mud bath, and the

prints of its armor may be found where it has wallowed in miry spots.

Well-beaten and conspicuous trails lead from the burrows often for half

a mile or more, frequently branching through the thickets in various

directions. Armadillo burrows sometimes accommodate strange neighbors,

as was shown by one in Texas which was dug out, and in addition to

containing the owner in his den at the end, was found to be occupied by

a four-foot rattlesnake and a half-grown cottontail rabbit, each in a

side chamber of its own.

The food of the armadillo consists almost entirely of many species

of insects, among which ants appear to predominate. When searching

for food the animals become so intent that they may be cautiously

approached and closely observed or captured by hand. They root about

among fallen leaves and other loose vegetation and soft earth, now

and then digging up some hidden grub or beetle. At night they visit

newly plowed fields in their haunts, rooting in the mellow earth. They

are accused of digging up plants in gardens during their nocturnal

wanderings, and in Texas have been charged with robbing hens’ nests of

eggs, and of reducing the supply of wild turkeys and quail by breaking

up the nests, all of which needs confirmation. Their method of feeding

appears to vary considerably, as they have been seen rising on their

hind legs to secure small caterpillars infesting large weeds.

The insect food eaten by the nine-banded armadillo in Texas, as

known from examination of stomach contents, covers a wide range of

insect and other small life, including many species of grasshoppers,

crickets, roaches, caterpillars, beetles, ants, spiders, centipedes,

and earthworms. As the list includes also wireworms and other noxious

species, these inoffensive animals deserve thorough protection as a

most useful aid to the farmer.

Some time from February to April each year, litters of from four to

eight young are born. They have their eyes open at birth, and the armor

is soft and flexible like fine leather. The hardening of the skin into

a bony armor is progressive, continuing until after the animal fully

completes its growth. As soon as the young are able to travel they trot

along with the old one during her foraging trips.

Early one afternoon, when riding along a trail in the heavy forest of

southern Oaxaca, accompanied by an Indian boy and a pack of dogs, I

suddenly came upon an old armadillo and eight young about two-thirds

grown. They had heard our approach and stood motionless in a compact

little group half hidden in the grass. I had barely time to stop my

horse when the dogs spied them and made a rush. The armadillos darted

into the undergrowth in every direction like a litter of pigs, and with

the exception of two caught by the dogs gained safe refuge in their

burrow. This we found dug in the level ground about fifty yards from

where we encountered them.

The Maya Indians of the Peninsula of Yucatan have a legend that the

black-headed vulture (_Catharista atrata_) in old age changes into an

armadillo. The tale runs, that when a vulture becomes very, very old

it notifies its companions that the time has come and alights before a

hole in the ground that resembles the den of an armadillo. The other

vultures bring food and the old one remains there for a long time.

Its wings disappear, the feathers are lost, and when the change is

complete the newly created armadillo enters the hole and begins its new

life. If skepticism is expressed as to this metamorphosis, the Indians

point out as proof of the legend the similarity between the appearance

of the bald pate of the vulture and that of the armadillo.

[Illustration: AMERICAN MINK TRACKS, SHOWING VARIOUS ARRANGEMENTS AND

TAIL MARKS

The typical track of a mink is as in the bottom set at the left, which

also illustrates the tail mark. Twelve to twenty-four inches are

usually cleared at each bound. This illustration is greatly reduced

from natural size (see opposite page and pages 555 and 575).]

=THE RING-TAILED CAT= (=Bassariscus astutus= and its

relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 562_)

The mild climate and the proximity of the Southwestern States to Mexico

and the tropics brings within our borders numerous strange types of

wild life. Of these the ring-tailed cat is one of the most strikingly

marked and interesting. In the United States it is known by several

other names, including “civet cat,” “coon cat,” and “band-tailed cat.”

In Mexico it still bears the old Aztec name cacomixtle, except in Lower

California, where it is the “babisuri.” It is about the size of a large

cat but with proportionately longer and slenderer body, shorter legs,

and longer tail. The alternating bands of black and white on the tail

proclaim its relationship, not to the cat, to which it has no kinship,

but to the raccoon, which has a tail similarly marked. Few mammals

possess such a beautifully formed head and face, and its large, mild

eyes give it a vivid expression of intelligence.

The ring-tailed cat occupies areas under such differing climates as

to produce geographic races, but none of them vary strikingly from

the typical animal here illustrated. They range from Oregon, Nevada,

southern Utah, Colorado, and Texas south to Costa Rica. In Mexico they

occur from near sealevel up to an altitude of about 10,000 feet. While

chiefly rock-inhabiting species, they sometimes live in the forests and

as a rule make their dens in caves and deep crevices, but sometimes

in hollow trees or about houses. Their young, from three to four in

number, are born in May or June.

In the Southwest they frequent some of the ruined cliff dwellings,

and I have found them haunting many of the ancient ruins of Mexico.

Their presence in little caves and other sheltered spots along cliffs

and rock walls bordering canyons or on mountain slopes may usually be

known by an examination of the fine dust which accumulates in sheltered

places. Whenever present their delicate cat-like tracks will be found

where they have been hunting mice or other small game.

Strictly nocturnal, they do not sally forth from their dens until

darkness is complete. During the night they are restless and frequently

wander far and wide in search of food, and apparently at times merely

to satisfy a spirit of inquiry. Their inquisitive nature frequently

leads them to explore the streets of towns and cities on the Mexican

table-land, filled though these places are with dogs. At daybreak,

tracks left in the dusty streets tell the story of their wanderings, as

they often do also in the case of opossums.

[Illustration: AMERICAN MINK TRACK NEARLY NATURAL SIZE

Although this animal has five toes on each foot, only four appear in

each track. This illustration, which is practically natural size, shows

the usual arrangement of the track. The hind feet are, of course, in

advance. Variations of arrangement are shown on the opposite page (see

also pages 555 and 575).]

One morning in February, 1893, soon after sunrise, I chanced to pass

through a little wooded square in the City of Mexico and saw a lot of

boys pursue and capture one of these animals which, having overstayed

his time, had been surprised by daybreak. This wanderer might have

had its den in some house in the neighborhood, since one of its known

habits is to take up its abode about houses, even in the midst of

towns. A friend living in the City of Mexico informed me that after

having been annoyed for some time by noises on the roof at night, he

investigated and discovered a female cacomixtle with partly grown young

snugly located in a nest placed in a narrow space between the tile roof

and the ceiling. In southern Texas the animals live on the brush-grown

plains under conditions very different from those usually chosen.

Like its relative the raccoon, the cacomixtle, with a taste for a

varied fare, takes whatever edibles come its way. It stalks wood rats,

mice, and even bats amid their rocky haunts and birds in bushes and

low trees. About the southern end of the Mexican table-land it is much

disliked for its robberies of chicken roosts, especially when these

are located in trees. Insects of many kinds, larvæ, and centipedes are

eaten, as well as a great variety of fruits, including that of the

pear-leaved cactus, and dates, figs, and green corn.

Ring-tailed cats regularly locate among rocky ledges, neighboring

orchards, or other cultivated areas where they may gather some of the

bounty provided by man. I found them more plentiful among the broken

lava cliffs bordering date palm orchards in Lower California than in

any other place. When the dates were ripening they prowled about under

the palms after dark with gray foxes and spotted skunks to pick up the

fallen fruit. They sometimes uttered a complaining cry and when caught

in a trap would bark almost like a little dog, or occasionally utter a

vicious scream of mixed fear and rage.

Being an intelligent animal, the cacomixtle is readily tamed and makes

a most interesting pet. During the early years of gold mining in

California, when many men were living in rude cabins in the mountains,

the prevalence of mice often attracted these “cats” to take up their

residence there. Often the owner of the premises and the mouser struck

up a friendly relationship and the cacomixtle, becoming as free and

friendly about the place as a real cat, kept it entirely clear from

mice. I have had first-hand accounts of these tame individuals from

miners who had harbored them in this way for months. These accounts

always gave the impression that the animal was somewhat playful and

mischievous and most attractive to have about the premises. All agreed

that it was extremely fond of sugar.

[Illustration: TRACK OF THE OPOSSUM

The hand-like paws are unmistakable. The tail mark appears. The absence

of claw on the thumb of the hind foot is usually seen.]

=THE OREGON MOLE= (=Scapanus townsendi= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 563_)

The effect on mammals of a narrowly specialized mode of life is well

illustrated in the mole. It is an expertly constructed living mechanism

for tunneling through the earth. The pointed nose, short neck,

compactly and powerfully built cylindrical body, with ribs strongly

braced to withstand pressure, and the short, paddlelike hands armed

with strong claws for digging are all fitted for a single purpose. Eyes

and ears are of little service in an underground life, so they have

become practically obsolete; the fur has been modified to a compact

velvety coat which will lie either front or back with equal facility

and thus relieve any friction from the walls of the tunneled roads, no

matter which way the animal travels.

Moles are circumpolar in distribution, being found from England to

Japan in the Old World and on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts

of the New World, where they occur only in North America. On this

continent they are limited mainly to the United States and southern

Canada, extending across the Mexican border only in two limited areas

at the extreme east and west. Their distribution is not continuous

across the continent, but is broken by a broad unoccupied belt formed

by the arid interior, including the Great Basin. The home of the

Oregon mole lies in the humid area west of the Cascade Mountains in

Washington, Oregon, and extreme northwestern California. Closely

related forms range from eastern Oregon southward through California to

the San Pedro Martir Mountains in Lower California, and others north

into British Columbia.

The Oregon mole is the largest and handsomest member of the group in

America and perhaps in the world. Its skin, a velvety coat of nearly

black fur, often with a purplish sheen, now brings a higher price in

the market than that of any other species. Its size and the beauty of

its dark coat distinguish it from any other mole.

Where the soil is loose the mole practically swims through it, urged

forward by powerful impulses of its “hands” and feet. This is the

common mode of travel near the top of the ground, where the course is

marked by the lightly upheaved and broken surface. When working at a

greater depth and in more compact soil the mole must dig its way and

dispose of the loose earth by pushing it along the tunnel to an outlet

at the surface through which it is thrust to form a mound similar to

the “dumps” of that other great miner, the pocket gopher.

On account of this similarity in mode of life, moles and pocket gophers

are sometimes confused by persons not familiar with the two animals.

The resemblance ends in this apparent likeness, for the pocket gophers

belong to the great order Rodentia, or gnawing animals, while the moles

are of the Insectivora, or insect-eaters.

The superbly forested region inhabited by Oregon moles is so well

watered that few places, even on high mountain slopes, are too dry for

them to occupy. These animals are generally distributed, and their

hills may be seen in the midst of the great coniferous forests as well

as in the open valleys.

They are most abundant in open grassy areas, especially in meadows and

in the bottoms of canyons and similar places, where the damp rich soil

affords a plentiful supply of earthworms, grubs, and insects on which

to feed. Like other moles, they lead lives of great activity and almost

constant hard labor. During damp weather they work near the surface,

but in dry periods as the upper soil hardens they follow their prey

to lower levels. A hard shower, however, always brings an outburst of

activity as they reoccupy the upper soil and throw up a multitude of

new mounds. They have the habit of regularly coming to the surface

to hunt food during the night. This is no doubt coincident with the

swarming up to the surface of earthworms on which the moles feed. At

such times many are captured by owls, cats, and other beasts of prey.

The runways of moles close along the surface, shown by well-marked

ridges, are for hunting purposes, and the lower tunnels, from which

the earth in the mounds is brought, are for traveling and lead to the

nest chamber. The deep tunnels of the Oregon mole sometimes extend

considerable distances along fences, or other surface cover, which

afford more or less protection. Such tunnels are a kind of highway

often used by several moles and also by shrews and field mice. The

system of tunnels of the moles over a considerable area often intersect

and are used more or less in common. As a result more than twenty moles

have been trapped at a single point in one of these underground roads.

They make an intricate system of many-branched tunnels, the courses

of which are usually marked by series of mounds varying from four to

ten inches high and five to twenty inches wide and often scattered

over meadows or other fields from two to six feet apart. Owing to

the persistence with which the moles raise their mounds everywhere

in the occupied parts of their territory, they have become a serious

and costly pest. In meadows the knives of mowing machines are dulled

by them, and in towns lawns are disfigured by their undesirable

activities. As a consequence they have now fallen under the ban and

are classed with other mammals which have shown their lack of ability

to fit in satisfactorily with the changed conditions brought to their

ancient territory by civilized man. Under natural conditions their

activities were undoubtedly entirely beneficial.

They appear to have but a single litter of young, numbering from one

to four, each year. These are born in March and grow so rapidly that

by the last of May they are working in the tunnels and are scarcely

distinguishable from the adults.

The recent discovery that the Oregon moleskin is valuable for its fur

will give such an incentive to trapping that there is little doubt the

boys of the State within a few years will reduce the numbers of the

animal and thus control its injury to agriculture. The market for the

skins appears practically unlimited, judging by trade reports, one

dealer in Brooklyn stating that he dressed 4,000,000 imported European

moleskins in 1916.