172 THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTJJY BOOK. 



chickens, he will sometimes slaughter whole broods in a single night ; he 

 simply sucks the blood and passes on to the next. We have known them to 

 attack full grown fowls, but rarely ; unless their burrow is near by, they will 

 seldom visit the same yard two nights in succession. 



THE RAVAGES OF THE MINK. 



Next to the weasel, the mink is most dreaded among poultry. In locali- 

 ties near salt marshes, swamps, . ponds and sluggish streams they most 

 abound. The ravages of the mink are easily told from those of the weasel, or 

 any other animal. He almost always carries off a portion of his prey and 

 tries to secrete it. If you find a half-grown chicken or old fowl dead and 

 dragged wholly or partly into a stone wall or under some building, you may 

 be certain it is the work of a mink; and if you go to work right, you will be 

 just as certain to trap him. 



THE PECULIARITIES OF THE MINK. 



One peculiarity of the animal makes his capture easy he always returns 

 to a spot where he has hidden his quarry, or where he has made a raid ; and 

 if he misses it, will go searching around for it. A knowledge of this fact 

 led to the invention, some ten years since, of the trap given in fig. 3. The 

 trap should be three feet long, one 

 foot wide, and one foot high, outside 

 measurement, and may be made of 

 ordinary faced pine boards. N is the 

 only solid part of the top, to which is 

 hinged the lids L and D, and also in 



which the standard S is mortised. The Vk =- ssss " =siSS "" \|| " ' \j 



lid L is held up by the rod A, in which 



are one or more notches, to elevate it FlG - 3 ~ MlNK TRAP - 



the desired hight, catching or hooking over the pin B, and projecting a few 



inches beyond. Under A, arid hinged into the standard by the pin P, is the 



lever T, also projecting an inch or more beyond. C is a treadle-board, 



hinged at Y to the bottom of the trap, and connecting by the wire W to the 



lever T, elevating it about two inches when set. H is the bait box, 



separated from the main trap by a wire screen, X, X. O is a window, of 



which there should be one on each side about three or four inches square, also 



covered with wire or wire cloth, and D is the lid of the bait box, fastened 



down by the pin E. 



BAITING AND SETTING THE TRAP. 



If you have a chicken or fowl that has been killed by the mink a night or 

 two preceding, put that into the bait box and close the lid, placing the trap 

 as near the spot where the dead fowl was found as you can. If a live fowl 

 is put in, no harm can be done to it, the screen effectually protecting it. The 

 mink enters the trap, and as soon as his weight gets well up on the treadle it 



