386 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



they dived on seeing- the flash of the gun, and even when hit, 

 they sunk, so that I could not secure them without more 

 trouble than they were worth. 



The best means of capturing- them is to build a small enclo- 

 sure of stones in shallow rippling water, and place the trap 

 near its entrance, the bait being further in, and well saturated 

 with mink odour; and the animals, in trying- to get that, are 

 almost sure of putting- their leg or head in the trap. If they 

 are only caught by the leg- they often gnaw that away above 

 the jaws of the trap and escape, as they have strong vital 

 power, and the pluck and furious temper of their family. 



They are as aquatic as the beaver, and spend most of their 

 time in the water, being to that element what the weasel is to 

 the land. They feed on rats, mice, the marsh hare, birds, fish, 

 crustaceans, and other denizens of the swamps and streams, 

 and they seem to excel all other animals in their attachment 

 to frog dinners. The mink, when tamed, is a pleasant pet 

 about the house, and is a far better ratter than the domestic 

 cat, but its odour is somewhat against it as a companion. 



The fisher, or black cat (M. pennantii}, is found in nearly all 

 the mountain ranges of the West, and is quite common in 

 many places. Though called a fisher, it is not aquatic in 

 habits, but is thoroughly arboreous, its favourite haunts being 

 the dense and damp woods adjoining water, and in this it 

 differs from the marten, which prefers the driest parts of the 

 forests of evergreens. It receives its name from the fact that it 

 destroys fish found in traps, but it never angles for itself as the 

 mink does, and it seems to prefer meat to fish. It travels much 

 at night in search of its prey, which includes everything from 

 field-mice to squirrels, and as it fights fiercely, it is often able to 

 kill animals larger than itself. Its length varies from twenty- 

 four to forty inches, excluding the tail, which ranges from 

 twelve to twenty inches, and its weight sometimes reaches 

 from fourteen to eighteen pounds, so that it ranks next to 

 the glutton in size. It is very destructive to marten traps, 

 being almost as bad as the wolverine, and this causes hunters 

 to execrate its presence, unless it gets trapped itself an event 

 which does not occur as often as they wish, for, being strong 



