132 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



THE MINK. 



Ladies are very familiar with the fur of the MINK, which is one of the best of the less expen- 

 sive varieties ; it is not glossy as marten or sable, and of a lighter and more uniform brown. 

 The mink is a water-haunting polecat, found in Siberia, North America, and Japan. Its main 

 home is in North America, where the immense system of lakes and rivers gives scope for its 

 aquatic habits. The under-fur is particularly warm and thick, to keep out the cold of the water t 

 in which the animal spends more time than on land. It is not stated to catch fish, as does the 

 otter, in the water ; but it lives on frogs, crayfish, mussels, and dead or stranded fish. Minks 

 have been kept in confinement and regularly bred in " minkeries," as is the blue fox, and in 

 Manchuria the chow dog, for the sake of its fur. 



THE POLECAT. 



This is now probably the rarest of the British weasels. It is almost identically the same as 

 the polecat-ferret, a cross-breed between it and the domesticated variety. It survives in a few of 

 the great woodlands of the Midlands and of Oxfordshire, in Scotland, and Wales. It is found in 

 Cumberland, near Bowness, and on Exmoor and Dartmoor where rabbits abound. It is an expert 

 swimmer. Its habits are the same as those of the stoat, but it is slower in its movements. It 

 catches fish, and can pick up food from the bottom of the water. Wild ones can be trained to 

 work like ferrets. " They do not delay in the hole, but follow the rat out and catch it in a couple 

 of bounds " (Trevor-Battye). The FERRET is a domesticated breed of polecat. It is identical in 

 shape and habits, but unable to stand the cold of our climate in the open. 



B? fermfuion of Percy Leigh Pemberton, Esq. 



PINE-MARTEN 



Pine-martens have most beautiful fur, and for that reason are much hunted in America 



