THE MINK 165 



animals are concerned, it is little less bloodthirsty than any 

 of its race. Only can it be said in its favour that it can be 

 handled with safety by persons accustomed to it. 



The Ferret is employed to drive rats and rabbits out of 

 their burrows ; in the latter case it is generally muzzled, 

 or it would kill and devour the rabbits in their holes 

 instead of driving them out to the rabbit-catcher. But 

 though a useful servant the Ferret is rather a perilous friend, 

 as more than one warrener has found to his regret. A Ferret 

 that escapes from its cage into a fowl or duck pen promptly 

 gives bloodthirsty evidence of the race to which it belongs ; 

 and sometimes it has attacked sleeping children, inflicting 

 frightful wounds on the nose, eyes, and lips, which have 

 afterwards ended in death. A man, too, was once aroused 

 from his sleep by a Ferret, which had seized him near the 

 eyebrow. So tenaciously did the creature hold on that 

 the victim was only freed by severing the Ferret's head 

 from its body. 



MINK (Mustela lutreola). 

 Coloured Plate IX. Fig. 8. 



The Mink is found in the northern regions of both 

 hemispheres, although it is a stranger to Britain. Of 

 several species two only need be mentioned, viz., the 

 European Mink as figured on the plate and the American 

 Mink (Mustela vison). 



This animal differs considerably in habits from the 

 other species of the genus. It is a kind of water polecat, 

 which spends as much time in the water as it does on 

 land. It feeds on the smaller mammals, but a great deal of 

 its food consists of aquatic creatures fish, frogs, crayfish, 

 etc. In disposition the Mink is by no means so destructive 

 and voracious as its nearest relations, generally killing only 

 sufficient to meet the demands of its appetite. 



The Mink, with a body fifteen to eighteen inches in 

 length, is more stoutly built than the weasels already 

 described. Its fur, generally dark chocolate in colour, is 

 particularly glossy, with the close felting of the under fur 



