92 SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS 



within a few feet of us, when the dog saw him. 

 As the dog sprang, the mink darted under a large 

 flat stone. Lark was very fierce, and seemed 

 to say to me, " Just lift up that stone and I will 

 show you my way with minks." This I quickly 

 did, and the dog sprang for the game, but he 

 as quickly withdrew with a cry of pain as if he 

 had touched something red-hot. The mink had 

 got in the first blow or bite, and then effected 

 his escape between my feet and the dog's, as if 

 he had vanished in the air. Where he went to 

 was a mystery. There was no hole ; no depth 

 of water ; no hiding-place anywhere that I could 

 discover or that the dog could discover, and yet 

 the mink had disappeared. It was like some 

 conjurer's trick. 



Minks are fond of fish, and can capture them 

 in the water. This makes them very destruc- 

 tive along small trout streams and ponds. I 

 once saw a trout with an ugly gash in its side, 

 which was doubtless the work of a mink. With 

 a friend, I once had a camp by a trout stream in 

 the Catskills that we named " Mink Camp," by 

 reason of the number of minks that came every 

 night as soon as it was dark, to devour the fish- 

 heads and entrails that we threw over on the 

 opposite bank. We could often hear them dis- 

 puting over the spoils, and in the dim light of 

 the camp-fire could sometimes see them. 



