294 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



Distribution and habitat. Mink are fairly common along most of 

 the streams, lakes, and coast lines of Oregon and absent only from 

 the high mountains and deserts or waterless areas (fig. 69). Semi- 

 aquatic in habits, they follow streams, getting much of their food 

 from the water, and hence are mainly restricted to areas of permanent 

 water supply. They show no preference for timber or open country, 

 as marshes with tall grass, reeds, and tules afford ample shelter and 

 protection. They are equally at home though in the forests or wher- 

 ever a satisfactory food supply is found. Their abundance depends 

 largely on the price of fur and the energy with which trapping is 

 carried on. No matter how thoroughly trapped out, they seem 

 always to return and to increase slowly. Few of our fur bearers have 

 held their own so successfully against the inroads of civilization. 



General habits. Mink 

 are well adapted by their 

 dense fur and webbed feet 

 to a semiaquatic life. 

 Their robust form and un- 

 usual fighting powers fit 

 them also for life on land. 

 Their keen, well-curved 

 nails enable them to take 

 refuge or pursue prey into 

 the treetops. Often they 

 are treed at night by dogs 

 hunting raccoons, and only 

 with difficulty dislodged 

 from the topmost branches 

 of the tree. They are great 

 travelers overland, but 

 usually follow along the banks of a stream or on the ice or snow above 

 its frozen surface, where they hunt under the banks and in hollow 

 trees and logs for the small game that makes up much of their food. 

 In the water they are nearly as much at home as the otter, swimming 

 rapidly, diving, and remaining under to pursue and capture fish, 

 frogs, and crustaceans or to escape from enemies by keeping below the 

 surface until well out of sight. If pursued they always take refuge in 

 the water, if possible, unless a deep burrow or hollow log or tree is 

 available close by. In a burrow or hollow log or tree they are "bad 

 medicine" for any dog that tries to get hold of them, for, of the weasel 

 family, they are far quicker than any dog and always get the firsi 

 hold, usually of the dog's nose or lip, in a way to fully command th< 

 situation. As fighters they perhaps have no superiors of their owi 

 size, and even in the open, a mink will often severely punish a dog oJ 

 many times its size and send the dog home with a bloody face and a 

 sad heart. The mink has a savage scream with which it threatens a 

 dog or even a person coining near its retreat, and in the cruel jaws of 

 a steel trap a mink will scream and fight to the last, never yielding its 

 valuable pelt without a fierce struggle for life. Hunters and merciless 

 killers themselves, they seem to have little sense of fear and great con- 

 fidence in their own strength and skill. In domestication they are 

 said to be gentle and affectionate pets, running at large on friendly 

 terms with the dogs, cats, and poultry. 



FIGURE 69. Range of the mink, Lutreola vison encr- 

 gumenos, in Oregon. 



