No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 513 



Burroughs records that when a pair of weasels was kept in 

 captivity, one killed and ate the other, picking the bones 

 clean.* Their cannibalistic tendencies and the work of the 

 trapper may account for their comparative scarcity. 



^rJie Mink. — Minks feed along water courses, where they 

 kill a water-fowl now and then. They also make excursions 

 overland, killing mice, as does the weasel. At times they 

 kill many domestic fowls and some birds. Mr. Brewster 

 has recorded, in "Bird-lore," the almost complete destruc- 

 tion of a colony of bank swallows by one or more minks, 

 Mr. H. B. Bigelow says : "Minks kill few if any quail or 

 partridges, but a good many ducks on the marshes. I have 

 found black ducks, evidently killed and partly eaten by 

 them." Their fur is valuable now ; they are trapped much, 

 so they are rather rare, which is fortunate for birds and 

 poultry. 



The /Skunk. — The skunk is a sluggish and rather stupid 

 animal, l)ut knows enough to steal young chickens from under 

 the mother at night. When a boy I once surprised a skunk 

 apparently eating some grouse eggs, while the bird hovered 

 round, afraid to come to close quarters. Wishing to inter- 

 rupt the proceedings, I undertook to investigate, but was so 

 warmly received by the undaunted animal that it was soon 

 left in undisputed possession of its ill-gotten meal. Prob- 

 ably the injury done by skunks to birds has been exagger- 

 ated. While occasionally they may stumble on a nest of 

 eggs or young birds, they are too slow to pursue and over- 

 take any bird that is able to use its wings or legs. I have 

 seen forty fowls roosting two and one-half feet from the 

 ground in safety, while, night after night, skunks came and 

 ate refuse from the ground in the same coop. 



Hunters, finding the nest of a game bird despoiled of its 

 contents, are very likely to attribute it to a skunk, without 

 sufficient evidence. Most people who have been nmch in 

 the woods believe that skunks eat many birds' and turtles' 

 eggs; but thus far I have been able to iiiid but one man 

 who has seen the skunk eating birds' eggs. This may be 

 mainly because the skunk usually hunts at night; but Mr. 



* " Squirrels and other fur bearers," John Burroughs, p. 87. 



