ORDER CARNIVORA: CARNIVORES 233 



European Mink. Vison (Fr.). Norz; Sumpf otter (Ger.) 



MUSTELA LUTREOLA Linnaeus 



[Mustela] Lutreola Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, p. 66, 1766. (Finland.) 

 FIGS.: Royal Nat. Hist., vol. 2, p. 68, 1894; Martin, 1910, pi. 33; Didier and 

 Rode, 1935, p. 303, fig. 176. 



The European Mink is a rare and vanishing species in central 

 Europe and France but is more generally and more commonly dis- 

 tributed in Russia. 



The general color is a rich dark brown; region about the mouth 

 whitish; tip of the tail blackish. Head and body, 350 (female) to 

 400 mm. (male); tail, 130 (female) to 140 mm. (male). (Miller, 

 1912, pp. 415, 418.) 



The range extends from western France eastward to the Tobol 

 and Irtish Rivers in western Siberia; south to Austria, Hungary, 

 Rumania, and Transcaucasia ; north to Finland and northern Russia. 



France. Though recorded by Lesson in 1840 in Poitou and Sain- 

 tonge, the Mink was long overlooked in France. It seems to have 

 been formerly rather common in the center, the west, the southwest, 

 Normandy, and the Vosges. The present range consists of a narrow 

 zone extending from the Jura to the vicinity of Nantes and in a 

 general way following the valley of the Loire. Here the species 

 seems to become rarer and rarer. The decrease is due to the active 

 hunting of the animal, for its fur is very valuable and it is also 

 considered a harmful species. Prohibition of hunting and surveil- 

 lance of the fur trade would be the only means of conservation; 

 but these measures would be very difficult to apply. (E. Bourdelle, 

 in litt., March 6, 1937.) 



Martin (1910, p. 35a) extended the range to the Gironde and to 

 Brittany. 



The Mink's food includes fish, frogs, crawfish, ducks, and small 

 mammals (Didier and Rode, 1935, p. 304) . 



Germany. The species has been exterminated in western Ger- 

 many and is very rare in northern and eastern Germany. Latest 

 dates of capture are: Mecklenburg, 1894-96; Hannover, 1902; East 

 Prussia, 1909; Liineburger Heide, 1910. At present there is no open 

 season. (Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung des Wisents, in 

 litt., October, 1936.) 



It had disappeared from Schleswig-Holstein by about 1890 (Mohr, 

 1931, p. 32). 



During recent years solitary individuals are still regularly shot or 

 seen in the east (Krumbiegel, 1930, p. 6) . 



Switzerland. Fatio (1869, p. 336) has only a few doubtful records 

 from this country. 



Austria. The Mink was formerly found in Burgenland and prob- 



