126 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



in our possession a pet of this kind for eighteen months; it 

 regularly made a visit to an adjoining fish pond both morning 

 and evening, and returned to the house of its own accord, where 

 it continued during the remainder of the day. It waged war 

 against the Norway rats which had their domicile in the dam 

 that formed the fish-pond, and it caught the frogs which had 

 taken possession of its banks. We did not perceive that it 

 captured many fish, and it never attacked the poultry. It was 

 on good terms with the dogs and cats, and molested no one 

 unless its tail or foot was accidentally trod upon, when it inva- 

 riably revenged itself by snapping at the foot of the offender. 

 It was rather dull at midday, but very active and playful in the 

 morning and evening and at night. It never emitted its dis- 

 agreeable odour except when it had received a sudden and 

 severe hurt. It was fond of squatting in the chimney corner, 

 and formed a particular attachment to an armchair in our study. 



"The latter end of February or the beginning of March, in 

 the latitude of Albany, N. Y., is the rutting season of the Mink. 

 At this period the ground is usually still covered with snow, 

 but the male is notwithstanding very restless, and his tracks 

 may everywhere be traced, along ponds, among the slabs around 

 sawmills, and along nearly every stream of water. He seems 

 to keep on foot all day as well as through the whole night. 

 Having for several days in succession observed a number of 

 Minks on the ice hurrying up and down a millpond, where we 

 had not observed any during the whole winter, we took a 

 position near a place which we had seen them pass, in order to 

 procure some of them. We shot six in the course of the morn- 

 ing, and ascertained that they were all large and old males. As 

 we did not find a single female in a week, whilst we obtained 

 a great number of males, we came to the conclusion that the 

 females, during this period, remain in their burrows. About 

 the latter end of April the young are produced. We saw six 

 young dug from a hole in the bank of a Carolina rice field; on 

 another occasion we found five enclosed in a large nest situated 

 on a small island in the marshes of Ashley river. In the State 

 of New York, we saw five taken from a hollow log, and we are 

 inclined to set down that as the average number of young the 

 species brings forth at a time." 



The following extract from a letter from Dr. T. S. Roberts, 

 gives a vivid account of an episode in the life of the mink : 



"Passing through a tamarack swamp, December 7th, 1877, I 

 came upon a trail in the snow made apparently by the body of 



