214 AUDUBON THE KATUKALIST, 



between the weather-boarding and the sill. On 

 gently forcing outward a plank, we perceived 

 the bright eyes of a mink peering at us and 

 shining like a pair of diamonds. He had long 

 been thus snngly ensconced, and was enabled to 

 supply himself with a regidar feast without leav- 

 ing the house, as the hole opened toward the 

 inside on the floor. Summary justice was in- 

 flicted, of course, on the concealed robber, and 

 peace and security once more were restored in 

 the precincts of the chicken-yard. 



This species is very numerous in the salt- 

 marshes of the Southern states, where it sub- 

 sists principally on the marsh-hen, the sea-side 

 finch, and the sharp-tailed finch, which, during 

 a considerable portion of the year, feed on the 

 minute shell-fish and aquatic insects left on the 

 mud and oysterbanks, on the subsiding of the 

 waters. We have seen a mink winding stealthily 

 through the tall m.arsh-grass, pausing occasion- 

 ally to take an observation, and sometimes lying 

 for the space of a minute flat upon the mud : at 

 length it draws its hind-feet far forwards under 

 its body in the manner of a cat, its back is 

 arched, its tail curled, and it makes a sudden 

 spring. The screams of a captured mai-sh-hen 

 succeed, and its upraised fluttering wing gives 

 sufficient evidence that it is about ^-o be trans- 



