106 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



proximity, even in numbers, is not commonly perceived by 

 smell." 



Both sexes possess the scent bags. They lie in the peri- 

 naeum, one on each side of the rectum, and open upon a 

 papilla on either side of the anus just within the edge of 

 the external orifice. Coues also points out that, as usual, 

 the apparatus pertains primarily to the sexual relations 

 and can have no other duty of consequence, since the scent 

 is not powerful enough to deter pursuit on the part of an 

 enemy, as in the case of the skunk, and its service, there- 

 fore, can be set down to that of attracting sexes. 



Owing to its short legs and unusual length of body when 

 compared to its slim build, the mink walks slowly and 

 rather clumsily with its back arched, but when it desires to 

 travel rapidly, it moves swiftly in a series of bounds, a gait 

 it is able to keep seemingly without tiring. It is perfectly 

 adapted to a double mode of life, being equally at home 

 searching out its prey in thick undergrowth on land or 

 seeking it in the water, its swimming ability being scarcely 

 exceeded by the otter. The mink is a restless animal, being 

 active by day as well as by night, but it is mainly nocturnal, 

 and it is usually at night that it is taken by the trapper. 



The mink is solitary. It is a renowned wanderer and its 

 hunts take it over considerable territory when on a food 

 foray. The only time it seems to seek companionship is 

 during the early spring mating season, as the oestrum, or 

 heat period, occurs but once a year. This duty over, the 

 pairs separate, the rearing of the family devolving wholly 

 on the female. The nursery is usually a nest in a hollow 

 log, a stump, or a cavity among the roots of a tree. The 

 den is lined with dried grasses, leaves, feathers, hair or 

 other soft material procurable. There is only one litter 

 a year and it numbers from three to eight. The young in 

 Louisiana usually being born during March and April. A 

 pair of mink, in captivity, mated January 29 and the litter 

 of five was dropped April 14, according to Svihla, giving a 

 period of gestation of 75 days, but it is believed that this 

 period is not longer than six or seven weeks. 



A log cutter for a lumbering concern in St. James parish 

 on April 10, 1926, found a litter of seven baby mink in a 

 hollow log not far from Lutcher. His attention was at- 



