(_Putorius vison._)
This soft fur bearing animal has been described by Audubon and Prince
De Wied. Its nearest relatives are very closely allied to the polecat
and differ from it only by a flatter head, larger canine teeth, shorter
legs, the presence of webs between the toes, a longer tail, and a
lustrous fur, consisting of a close, smooth, short hair, resembling
otter fur. Its color is a uniform brown. The fur of the American mink
is much more esteemed than that of the European, as it is softer and of
a more woolly character.
According to Audubon the mink ranks next to the ermine in destructive
capacity, prowling around the farmyard or duck-pond, and its presence
is soon detected by the sudden disappearance of young chickens and
ducklings. Audubon had a personal experience with a mink which made its
home in the stone dam of a small pond near the home of the naturalist.
The pond had been dammed for the benefit of the ducks in the yard, and
in this way afforded the mink hunting-grounds of ample promise. Its
hiding-place had been selected with cunning, very near the house and
still nearer the place where the chickens had to pass on their way
to drink. In front of its hole were two large stones, which served
the mink as a watch tower, from which it could overlook the yard as
well as the pond. It would lie in wait for hours every day and would
carry away chickens and ducks in broad daylight. Audubon found the
mink to be especially plentiful on the banks of the Ohio river, and
there observed it to be of some use in catching mice and rats. But it
was also addicted to poaching and fishing. The naturalist observed it
to swim and dive with the greatest agility and pursue and attack the
quickest of fishes, such as the salmon and trout. It will eat frogs or
lizards, but when food is plentiful it is very fastidious, preying upon
rats, finches and ducks, hares, oysters and other shell fish; in short,
Brehm says it adapts itself to the locality and knows how to profit by
whatever food supplies it may be able to find. When frightened it gives
forth a very fetid odor like the polecat.
The female gives birth to five or six young at about the end of
April. If taken young they get to be very tame and become real pets.
Richardson saw one in the possession of a Canadian lady who used to
carry it about with her in her pocket. It is easily caught in a trap of
any kind, but its tenacity of life renders it difficult to shoot. The
European mink much resembles the American, except that it is somewhat
smaller and its fur is coarser.
Upon a large farm in Michigan visited by the writer this summer ran a
creek where the chickens, when the trough was dry--and dry it usually
was--traveled to get a drink. In the bank of the creek a mink made his
home, and not a week passed that one or more hens did not appear in the
barnyard crippled or mangled in a manner painful to behold--painful,
that is, to the visitor, but not apparently to the farmer, who only
said: "It's that darned mink; some day, when I have time, I'll set a
trap and catch him," and so went coolly on his way, leaving the poor
maimed creatures to drag out a painful existence for days or weeks,
hoping that nature would heal the wounds made by the mink.
Aside from the lack of thrift thus shown by the farmer--for the hens,
when badly mangled, in time succumbed--the inhumane aspect of the case
never seemed to strike him. The cultivation of his fields left no time
for cultivating the finer feelings of the heart.
[Illustration: MINK.
4/11 Life-size.
FROM COL. F. NUSSBAUMER & SON.
A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO.
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.]