164 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



Account of "A few days before Christmas, 1843," 



a Captive sa y S Grill, " I was given a male Ermine, 

 Ermine. which had been caught in a pile of wood. 

 It wore its pure white winter dress. The round 

 black eyes, the red-brown nose, and the black tail-tip 

 stood out in bold relief against the snow-white fur, 

 .which only at the root and on the inner half of the 

 tail had a sulphur yellow tint. It was a pretty, lively 

 little animal. At first I put it in a large, untenanted 

 room, which soon took on the disagreeable odor that 

 characterizes the Weasel tribe. Its skill in climb- 

 ing, leaping and hiding itself was marvelous. It 

 climbed up window curtains with ease, and if fright- 

 ened, it would drop down with a scream. On the 

 second day it ran up the stove-pipe and stayed in 

 that grimy retreat a few hours, and came out covered 

 with soot. It often eluded me for hours at a time 

 when I would be looking for it, and then_ it would 

 issue from some place where I thought it least likely 

 to be concealed. As the room was not heated, it 

 soon made itself a nest in a bed, but always left this 

 warm refuge when anybody entered the room. Still 

 the bed remained its favorite hiding place. It 

 would run to it when rapidly approached, but if one 

 came up to it gently, uttering a few kind words, it 

 would stop, crane its long neck and lift one fore-paw. 

 Its fondness for petting is well known, and the peas- 

 ants often say, ' Little Weasel likes to be praised.' 

 If its curiosity is aroused, or it scents danger, and 

 wishes to see farther than its small stature permits, 

 it sits up on its hind legs. If one approaches it, it 

 barks before fleeing, in a violent, yelling tone, re- 

 sembling that of a woodpecker. 



" When it was put in a large cage on the third day 

 and it saw that there was no escape for it, the Ermine 

 did not suffer any one to approach toward the cage 

 without jumping to the bars, biting viciously, and 

 uttering the sound described above in a long trill re- 

 sembling the cry of the Magpie. It felt itself secure 

 in the cage, and did not even fear the Dog, and the 

 two animals used to bark into each other's faces, each 

 on its own side of the bars. When I put the fingers 

 of a glove through the bars it bit at and tore them. 

 When it was very angry (and so little a cause as 

 disturbing its sleep was sufficient to rouse its ire), all 

 the hairs of its long tail stood on end. 



" In general my little Ermine was very wicked. It 

 detested music. If one played on a guitar in front 

 of its cage, it jumped against the bars as if insane, 

 and barked and hissed as long as the playing con- 

 tinued. It never tried to use its claws for the lacera- 

 tion of its prey, but always used its teeth. 



" On the 7th of May, when the animal had been 

 four and one-half months in my possession, I tried 

 for the first time to pet it, having gloves on. It bit 

 into them, but I did not feel the teeth, neither did 

 they leave any traces. At first it tried to evade my 

 caresses, but later it seemed to like them, lying down 

 on its back and closing its eyes. On the following 

 day I repeated the experiment, as I had a firm inten- 

 tion of rendering it as tame as I could. Soon I 

 pulled off my glove and stroked it and it did not 

 attempt to bite me. I could pet and stroke it, lift 

 its paws and even open its mouth without making it 

 angry, but when I took it by its body it slid out of 

 my hands like an Eel. It had to be approached 

 gently, if one did not wish to scare it, and the rule 

 for the treatment of all wild animals held good for 

 this one also : the trainer must show at the same 

 time that he does not fear the animal and that he 

 does not intend to harm it." 



The fur of the Ermine is not very expensive, but 

 is still highly valued for its beauty. In olden times 

 it was used only by princes, but now it is more com- 

 mon. 

 Special Charac- The Mink and its nearest relatives 



teristics of are very closely allied to the Polecat 

 the Mink. anc j differ from it only by a flatter 

 head, larger canine teeth, shorter legs, the presence 

 of webs between the toes, especially developed in 

 the hind legs, a proportionately longer tail and a 

 lustrous fur consisting of close, smooth, short hair, 

 resembling Otter fur. Its color is a uniform brown. 

 There is a European and an American species. Until 

 very recently little was known about the mode of life 

 of these two animals and even now the published 

 observations are far from satisfactory, especially 

 those relating to the European species. I owe a 

 great deal to the experiences of a Lubeck forester, 

 who has kindly put his observations at my disposal. 

 The American Mink has been described by Audubon 

 and Prince de Wied. 

 The European The European Mink or Nerz {Putorius 



Mink or lutreola) attains a length of twenty 

 Nerz. inches, about six of which go to the 

 tail. The body is long and slender, the legs are short* 

 and the whole animal resembles the Otter, except 

 that the head is still more slender. The feet are 

 similar to those of the Pole'cat, but the toes are con- 

 nected by webs. The lustrous fur consists of dense, 

 smooth, short and rather hard outer hair, of a brown 

 color, and a grayish, matted, woolly inner coat. The 

 color is darker in the middle of the back, on the nape 

 of the neck and on the buttocks than on the rest of 

 the body, and the tail is usually darker than the 

 sides. On the under parts the tint merges into gray- 

 ish brown. The throat shows a small whitish or 

 light yellow spot, the upper lip is white in front and 

 so is the whole lower lip. 



The American The American Mink {Putorius vison) 

 Mink's shows a similar distribution of colors, 



Superior Fur. birt its fur is much more esteemed, 

 as it is softer and of a more woolly character. It is 

 a little larger than the European Mink. 



In their mode of life both animals probably agree 

 in all essentials and, therefore, I will give an account 

 of the most important points in the description of the 

 American Mink by the above-mentioned naturalists, 

 before I proceed to describe the European Nerz. 

 Audubon's According to Audubon the Mink 



Observation of ranks next to the Ermine in de- 

 the Mink. structive activity, prowling around 

 the farm-yard or duck pond ; and its presence is 

 soon detected by the sudden disappearance of sundry 

 young Chickens and Ducklings. Audubon had a 

 personal experience with a Mink which had taken up 

 its abode in the stone-dam of a small pond near the 

 home of the naturalist. This pond had been dammed 

 for the benefit of the Ducks in the yard, and in this 

 way afforded the Mink hunting-grounds of ample 

 promise. Its hiding place had been selected with 

 cunning and audacity ; very near the house and still 

 nearer the place where the Chickens had to pass on 

 their way to drink. In front of its hole there were 

 two large stones, which served the Mink as a watch- 

 tower, from which it could overlook the yard as well 

 as the pond. It would lay in wait for hours every 

 day, and would carry away Chickens and Ducks 

 in broad daylight until the naturalists put an end 

 to its career. Audubon found the Mink to be espe- 

 cially plentiful on the banks of the Ohio river and 

 there observed it to be of some use in catching Mice 



