124 BULLETIN NO. VII. 
min. They cannot climb a smooth surface, but ascend readily 
where there is roughness enough for anail-hold. The grown 
male will weigh about two pounds; the female is heavier than 
she looks, averaging between one and a half and one and three- 
fourths pounds. These tame Minks make excellent ratters, 
hunt vigorously, and soon exterminate the troublesome pests. 
Rats will make off on scenting them, they are so bewildered 
in flight that they give no battle, but yield at once; and the 
Mink severs the main vessels of the neck so quickly and skil- 
fully that an observer would scarcely imagine the deed had 
been done. 
When wild Minks are confined with the tame ones, the latter 
always prove stronger than the former, and come off victorious 
in the contests that ensue. They have been observed to beat 
off acat that imprudently invaded the minkery in quest of food. 
So completely domesticated are the animals that a person may 
enter the inclosure with impunity, and observe the animals 
playing about him like kittens. 
Mr. Resseque states that he finds ready saie for his Minks— 
in fact, that he cannot supply the demand. His prices are $30 
per pair—§$20 for a female, $10 for a male, and $25 for an im- 
pregnated female. It is to be hoped that this novel branch of 
industry will be perpetuated and extended. There are plenty 
of Minks in this country, the services of which are available 
without difficulty for the purpose of destroying vermin, and in 
the aggregate their good services would have a very decidedly 
appreciable result. They have a great advantage over terrier 
dogs in being able to enter any ordinary rat-hole and drive their 
prey from its hidden resorts, 
From the ‘‘Forest and Stream” of July 2, 1874, the following 
article is extracted in further illustration of this branch of 
industry :— 
‘Messrs. Phillips & Woodcock, of Cancadea, New York, 
commenced two years ago the business of breeding Mink for 
their fur. A correspondent of the Buffalo Express describes 
the ‘Minkery’ in the following terms:— 
“The ‘‘Minkery,” designed to accommodate one hundred 
Minks for breeding, consists firstof an enclosure about forty feet 
square, made by digging a trench one foot deep, laying a plank at 
the bottom, and from the outer edge starting the wall, which 
consists of boards four feet high, with a board to cap the top, 
projecting upward eight or ten inches toprevent their climbing 
over. Within this enclosure is a building 14 by 24, supplied by 
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