360 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



(pRRESPONDENCE 



AND 



Information 



A Big and Ravenous Mink. 



Roxbury, Connecticut. 

 To the Editor : 



Here is a mink that has sprung" into 

 fame from extraordinary size and appe- 

 tite. 



To his "credit" there is the slaugh- 

 tering of twelve chickens in one night 

 Much has been said of the slaughter- 

 ing propensities of Sir Reynard ; but 

 he is an amateur compared with this 

 sturdy legged hunter, and a great in- 

 justice is done the farmer when a 



veniently to the larger stream. On the 

 other shore of the larger stream a 

 brooklet flows through an old meadow 

 which for years has been the happy 

 hunting ground of a colony of musk- 

 rats that live in the banks. Here along 

 the shores of the smaller stream could 

 be seen in great number the runways 

 of the muskrats as they had gone from 

 the stream up into the meadow for 

 their winter supply of calamus and 

 roots. They are a thrifty lot these days 

 and little time is lost in play. Where 



THE "BIG AND RAVENOUS MINK" IN ARCADIA'S GALLERY. 



bounty is placed on the fox while the 

 mink is protected by law. 



After visiting a nearby farmer's hen- 

 roost and feasting on the blood of 

 twelve chickens this mink sought new 

 fields of adventure, and three nights 

 later became a victim of his own greed 

 and eventually landed in Arcadia's 

 laboratory to be photographed. 



The henroost which he robbed is lo- 

 cated near a small stream that flows 

 to the "river," and it was here that he 

 found the roost and had his retreat con- 



there are no banks in which to dwell 

 they have built their homes high and 

 dry with sticks, mosses and mud. 

 These are truly a work of art. Each 

 way one turns there may be seen new 

 signs of their industry. There are no 

 family quarrels in these little homes, 

 and all are workers. Where one musk- 

 rat leaves off, another takes up the 

 task with the same perseverance. 

 Civilization has yet to learn the very 

 rudiments of success from these little 

 workers to whom brotherly love and 



