884 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



burrows or their homes, kilhng and devouring them in spite of 

 a most desperate resistance. The Muskrat is a noted fighter 

 and always dies game; still it dies when it meets the Mink. 



Dr. E. Coues thus'-' condenses M. A. Howell, Jr.'s account 

 of a Muskrat-Mink adventure: "Whilst Snipe hunting on a 

 marshy island below the Kickapoo Rapids of the Illinois River, 

 the writer noticed an object which appeared like a ball some 

 six or eight inches in diameter rolling towards the water, and 

 soon ascertained that it was a Mink and a Muskrat clinched 

 together, and so completely covered with mud as not to have 

 been at first recognized. At his approach the Mink released its 

 hold and made its escape, but the Muskrat was already dying 

 of severe wounds in the head and neck, from which the blood 

 was flowing profusely. The Muskrat had evidently been capt- 

 ured and overcome in fair fight by broad daylight, and 

 the Mink would have devoured its victim had not the hunter 

 interfered." 



E. W. Deming, the New York animal-painter, informs me 

 that on Green River, of Illinois, the Muskrat is a regular food 

 of the Mink. He once found the remains of lo Muskrats in 

 a Mink den. This is a typical and extremely carnivorous 

 record, but nothing in the way of flesh, fish, or fowl comes amiss. 

 It is delighted with the chance to rob the sportsman of a string 

 of fish or a wounded duck, even seizing the latter before the 

 gunner's eyes, and I have followed its track through the snow in 

 Ontario to read the grewsome story of its running down and 

 devouring a Gray-rabbit. From all accounts it often amuses 

 itself with preying on house-rats where they abound. All kinds 

 of birds and eggs are most acceptable food when it can find 

 them. Not rarely it quarters itself on the hen house, killing 

 each night for food, and especially relishing the blood and 

 brains of its victims. 



It will prey on snakes and clams when nothing better 

 turns up, and I have several times followed its tracks at Lake 

 Winnipegosis to learn that frogs, crayfish, and carrion were 

 staple articles of its diet. 



" Fur-beariiig Anim., i<S77, p. 178. 



