880 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



chamber about a foot in diameter, warm and dry, and well 

 lined with fine grass, feathers, and any other soft material that 

 is handy. 



Sometimes the nest is in a Muskrat home, whose rightful 

 owners have been dispossessed, probably eaten, but the lining 

 and finish are said to be the same as in the underground den. 

 So far as known, it is made and guarded solely by the mother. 



The male, however, has a den of his own, probably a 

 number of them, scattered over his home-range, as already 

 noted. Indeed, it is tolerably certain that at all seasons each 

 Mink has one or two refuge dens at convenient parts of its 

 home-region, where he or she can count on a comfortable 

 nest no matter what weather may be in possession of the out- 

 side world. 



GESTA According to all authorities, the period of gestation is 



TION, ETC. , J 1 o 



exactly 42 days. 



In Manitoba, the young are born about the last week in 

 April or first of May. They are usually 5 or 6 in number, but 

 may vary from 3 to 10. On arrival they are about the size 

 and shape of a little finger, pale in colour, blind, naked, and 

 helpless. Their eyes open when they are five weeks old, and 

 now the little creatures begin to look like Mink, for they are 

 covered with a close fine coat of fur. 



On June 28, 1883, I found a young Mink lying under some 

 brush on a sort of trail between two ponds among the Sand- 

 hills, near Carberry. I was led to it by its plaintive squeaking. 

 It was well formed, but its eyes were not open, and I saw 

 nothing of the mother or of any other young Mink. Why it 

 was there is a puzzle, as this did not seem to be a nest. Possi- 

 bly the mother was moving her brood to new quarters and left 

 this in a temporary resting place. I carried it home. Its 

 eyes opened about July i. Reckoning backward, this one 

 must have been born about May 29 and engendered in mid- 

 April. 



About this time their eyes are opened and the mother 

 begins to supply them with solid food. 



