MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 127 



some small animal while being dragged along. My curiosity 

 being aroused, I followed it a short distance out from among 

 the tamaracks into the bushy meadow adjoining. Here I came 

 upon a place where the snow had been beaten down in a circular 

 spot, the weeds and bushes having been lashed about evi- 

 dently the scene of an encounter of some kind. Going a 

 few steps farther, I found there were now two tracks, one 

 made by a rabbit in full run, and the other by some small 

 animal, evidently a mink. The pursuit had been a hot one, 

 and the mink had showed his cunning by keeping a little to one 

 side of the rabbit that he might take advantage of any curve or 

 turn made by the latter. Having learned this much, I turned 

 about and followed the trail made by the body of the captured 

 rabbit. Straight into the middle of the tamarack swamp it 

 went, to a small stream flowing in a narrow, ditch-like channel- 

 Here on the frozen stream I found the rabbit dragged into 

 a narrow place between the banks of the ditch. It was the 

 little grey rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus). A round hole just back of 

 the ear on the left side, showed how the life blood had been 

 drawn. 



Near this creek I noticed other places where this mink had 

 been chasing rabbits, but without success. A short distance 

 up the creek I found where another rabbit had been dragged 

 into the ditch, but it was not frozen here, and the body could 

 not be found." 



The following observations given by Prof. C L. Webster* 

 may serve to give some insight into the domestic habits of the 

 mink. Opportunities for such observation are, unfortunately, 

 exceedingly rare in all the fur-bearing animals, and the present 

 case may serve as a foil to the less pleasant picture afforded by 

 Dr. Roberts, of the disposition of another member of the same 

 group : 



' ' While engaged in geological work on the Cedar river, near 

 Osage, Iowa, my attention was attracted by the peculiar actions 

 of a mink (Putorius visori). By careful maneuvering we were en- 

 abled to approach to within a short distance of where it was en- 

 gaged, and there watch its behavior unobserved. It was an old 

 mother mink engaged in fishing for her young. On the ripples 

 in the centre of the stream, where the water was not more 

 than two feet in depth, was a flat drift boulder rising a few 

 inches above the surface. On this rock the mother mink would 

 take her position and here watch for small fish to approach, 



*Am. Naturalist. March,-1889, p. 176. 



