Family MUSTELIDAE 103 



stream bank for a home without remodeling it. The mink seeks 

 food principally along the shores of lakes or the banks of streams 

 and ditches. It feeds most often on young or sickly muskrats. 

 It feeds also on aquatic insects, crayfish, frogs, snails, some 

 water birds, and, since it is an excellent swimmer, it preys at 

 times on fish, particularly the smaller kinds. Occasionally, and 

 as circumstances dictate, it forsakes the stream or lake edge for 

 a meadow, where it preys upon meadow mice, white-footed mice, 

 and rabbits. 



The mink hunts mainly at night. It is a bold hunter and seems 

 to spend less time stalking its prey than do weasels. Each 

 animal probably patrols several miles of lake shore or ditch or 

 river bank. Like its relatives, the weasels, it kills wantonly 

 whenever it comes upon a brood of chicks, a family of mice, or 

 any other concentration of prey species. Its enemies are individ- 

 uals of its own species, foxes, horned owls, dogs, and trappers. 

 The mink is hunted and trapped as one of the most valuable 

 furbearers of Illinois. 



An adult female has annually but one litter of young, usually 

 numbering 5 or 6, in April or May. At birth the young are of 

 pea-pod size and helpless; in 2 months they may go on short 

 forays with the mother. The brood breaks up in late summer. 



The mink, like the skunk and the weasel, has scent or musk 

 glands. Although the amount of musk discharged is small, its 

 odor is potent and perhaps more offensive to man than that of 

 the skunk or weasel. The scent is emitted by the mink most fre- 

 quently during the breeding season, when individuals are trying 

 to attract those of the opposite sex. 



Signs. — Although the mink has five toes on each foot, only 

 four show in each print, fig. 25. Front and hind prints are prac- 

 tically alike and are about 1^ inches across. In the usual gait 

 of the animal, which is bounding, prints of the hind feet are al- 

 most side by side and in front, while those of the front feet are 

 close behind these and one slightly trails the other. Six to 20 

 inches may separate each complete set. In fluffy snow, the tail 

 mark may show on each set but not between sets. 



Droppings of the mink may be found along the margins of 

 waterways and may be recognized by their contents and by their 

 shape, each having one end more or less spirally twisted. They 

 generally are packed wnth hair and crayfish parts and occasion- 

 ally with fish and frog remains. 



