186 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



procure some of them. We shot six in tbe course of the morn- 

 ing, and ascertained that they were all lar<;e and old males. As 

 we did not find a single female in a week, whilst we obtained 

 a great number of males, we came to the conclusion that the 

 females, during this period, remain in their burrows. About 

 the latter end of April the young are produced. We saw six 

 young dug from a hole in the bank of a Carolina rice-field ; on 

 another occasion we found five enclosed in a large nest situated 

 on a small island in the marshes of Ashley river. In the State 

 of New York, we saw five taken from a hollow log, and we are 

 inclined to set down that as the average number of young the 

 species brings forth at a time." 



