260 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



seque, a mink-breeder whose experience and 

 methods are described particularly in Elliot 

 Coues's Fur-bearing Animals, admits, how- 

 ever, that they become exceedingly mischiev- 

 ous, prying into all sorts of food receptacles, 

 etc., and can hardly be recommended as house- 

 hold pets. Merriam trained some in his pos- 

 session to be excellent ratters, following the 

 rats into their holes and soon clearing all the 

 premises of this pest. 



Care of captive minks. In planning a 

 minkery a yard say 50 feet square should be 

 set apart and enclosed by a tight board fence 

 7 or 8 feet high, which should rest upon a stone 

 or cement foundation sunk 2 feet into the 

 ground ; or else a close and strong wire netting 

 must be deeply sunk along the bottom, for 

 minks are good diggers. The top of the fence 

 should have an inward overhang of tin, zinc 

 or galvanized iron at least 2 feet wide, and still 

 broader at the corners, or else the animals will 

 climb out. Of course the best way would be 

 to pave the whole interior with, and base the 

 fence upon, concrete, but this is costly ; if it is 



