62 February 1749. 



rius, that they are hardly diftinguifhable *„ 

 I have had the following accounts given me 

 of its way of living ; it feldom appears in 

 day-time, but at night it comes out of the 

 hollow trees, on the banks of rivers. Some- 

 times it lives in the docks and bridges, at 

 Philadelphia^ where it is a cruel enemy 

 to the rats. Sometimes it gets into the 

 court-yards at night, and creeps into the 

 chicken-houfe, through a fmall hole, 

 where it kills all the poultry, and fucks 

 their blood, but feldom eats one. If it 

 meets with geefe, fowls, ducks, or other 

 birds on the road, it kills and devours them. 

 It lives upon fifh and birds. When a brook 

 is near the houfes, it is not eafy to keep 

 ducks and geefe, for the mink, which lives 

 near rivers, kills the young ones. It firft 

 kills as many as it can come at, and theri 

 it carries them off, and feails upon them. 

 In banks and dykes near the water, it like- 

 wife does mifchief, with digging. To 

 catch it the people put up traps, into 

 which they put heads of birds, fifhes, or 

 other meat. The fkin is fold in the towns, 

 and at Philadelphia, they give twenty-pence 

 and even two millings a-piece for them, 



according 



* The Mink, or Minx, is a kind of fmall otter, which 

 is called by Dr. Linnaus, Mujtela lutreola, in his fyftem. i. 

 p. 66. F. 



