The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-24
THE MINK.

l Like all the other members of the weasel tribe, the mink has a bad repu- | tation. He earned it, he lives right up
 to it, and judging by appearance, he Is | proud of it, too. Like 1snmael of old, his hand Is against every man, and ev- cry mans hand is against him, and for sufficient reas sons, for a cleyerer, craf- tier, stealthler thief and cut-throat
 does not inhabit the Eastern States | than the mink.
 If, in our walks, we frequent the
 banks of small streams, or the ditches
 which drain the marshes, we may occa-
 sionally see dark brown animal about two feet long, with slender body and a rather busy tail, glide from behind a stone, under the bottom rail of fence, from beneath the roots of tree, or
 possibly from hole in the bank, and
 then disappear-just where, we can
 never quite tell. This is mink, and if
 we happen to have a gun with us, and
 shoot him before he has chance to
 vanish, we shall be able to complete
 our study of appearance.
 We shall find that his body is per
 haps twelve or fourteen inches in
 length, and his tail about seven or
 eight inches more
 His coat is dark brown on the back, and yellowish brown on the under parts. and probably we shall find white patch on his chin, and white stripe on
 his chest, between his front legs. The
 hair is of two kinds-a soft wooly fur beneath, with longer and stiffer hairs interspersed. The latter, which are smooth and glossy almost conceal the finer hair below. Beginning with the head. we shall see that 1t Is small, with a short nose, beady eyes and short broad ears almost concealed by the thick fur, The neck is long, and much the same thickness as the body, the appearance of which is rather snake like. The lges are short and sturdy, and the toes are connected by short webs covered with hair both above and below.
 How the small wild creatures fear the mink. And well they may, for he knows the flavor of them all. No ani- mai save the white weasel is more bloodthirsty than he, and even the er- mine, that prince of murderes, cannot capture his prey in the water. The mink is as much at home in the water as upon the land; swims and dives bet ter than any other quadruped of his size, and the fact that he often dimes upon trout, proves that fish are no match for him. even when they are swimming for their lives. With in credible speed, he pursues them through the water, under logs, and roots and stones, twisting and turning as they attempt to double, and, finally vic torious, he brings his prey out upon the shore to devour it.
 But he often obtains food with much less trouble, for in the spring, when the suckers and alewives are running up into the shallow water in schools, all the mink has to do is to wait on the shore until they come near enough to be seized, or until some of them are crowded bodily out of the water Then he often gets a chance to rob a human fisherman, ana never fails to avail him. self of it. Such opportunities arise when an angler, having caught a num- Der of fish, leaves his string upon the bank, while he proceeds to whip an- other section of the stream. If there are minks about his fish will be miss ing when he returns, and if he searches long enough he may find their partly eaten remains under some overhanging bank or beneath the half submerged roots of tree.
 But the mink does not spend all his time fishing; he is one of the most skillful of hunters, and he makes the most of his ability. Like the ermine he follows his game by scent, and gen. erally kills it by cutting the main blood vessels of the neck with his teeth.