The Fur Animals of Louisiana 267 



mink's most important services to man is the destroying 

 of these pests about milldams, canals and dikes, where their 

 burrows undermine the embankment and cause overflows." 

 William E. Cram is of the opinion that "the mink seems 

 to prefer muskrat flesh to any other food, and hunts and 

 kills muskrats, both old and young, at every season of the 

 year." 37 



Surveys have demonstrated that the mink prey on the 

 helpless young frequently. It has been discovered that 

 countless muskrat houses exhibiting small, round holes on 

 the outside and high on the structure that the mink had 

 made in gaining an entrance directly into the nesting cham- 

 ber. It is quite evident that the toll taken is very large. 



In the high-producing area in the Delacroix Island sec- 

 tion of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes the minks 

 were at one time very plentiful, but the trappers of that 

 section, through a persistent trapping campaign that has 

 gone on for years, have virtually wiped out these flesh- 

 eaters and the present-day production of muskrats. is very 

 high. 



It has been an old adage in the Louisiana marshes that 

 wherever the poisonous moccasin snake is plentiful one is 

 certain to find many muskrats. On the other hand, some 

 experienced and practical trappers will tell you that the 

 moccasins become so plentiful and take such a toll of young 

 that muskrat population is kept down. 



During the disastrous crevasses of 1928, which covered 

 the Delacroix Island marshes large numbers of these snakes 

 feeding on the mice have been found that had sought ref- 

 uge on the rafts and a photograph of one swallowing a small 

 muskrat is reproduced in these pages. The crews of trap- 

 pers engaged in rescue work kept up an incessant warfare 

 on these reptiles and thousands of moccasins were killed. 



Our field biologist during the month of April found a 

 four-foot moccasin at the foot of a muskrat house swallow- 

 ing a muskrat kit head first. At the time of discovery the 

 cotton-mouth had swallowed the entire forequarters of the 

 kit and was slowly making advances with the remaining 

 portion by distending its jaws and sinking its fangs further 



''Cram, W. ~E., Journal of Mammalogy, vol. 4, p. 22. 



