CHAPTER IY. 



OUE COMMON MINK. 



So familiar is the common mink to every one who 

 has lived in the country, and so minutely have its habits 

 been described, that nothing can be added to our knowl- 

 edge of the animal. My field-notes are filled with brief 

 references to it, and I find that twenty years have come 

 and gone since first I saw a living specimen. This first 

 experience was very memorable, and is even yet always 

 recalled, whenever, as I float leisurely down the creek, 

 on the lookout for fish or birds, I happen to catch a 

 glimpse of a stray mink, as it runs along the shore in 

 quest of fish, flesh, or fowl, as the case may be. I seem 

 to witness the struggle all over again, and need no refer- 

 ence to my notes to refresh my memory, though, to insure 

 greater accuracy, I will transcribe them : " Cold, raw day, 

 for the second week in May (1860), but, in spite of the 

 threatening sky, went down to Watson's Creek to look 

 for warblers. Saw nothing but yellow-rumped warblers 

 (Sylvicola coronata), and only a few of them, and a single 

 listless red-start (Setophaga ruticilla\t}\dLt evidently wished 

 itself in the sunny South again. Near the ' big ditch,' 

 although I was a long way off, I saw something moving 

 in a seemingly rough-and-tumble fashion, so I hurried 

 on. It proved to be a good-sized ' snapper' (Chelydra 

 serpentina) having a tussle with a mink. The turtle had 

 the mink by one hind-leg, and held on like grim death, 



