CARNIVORA 211 



American minks (Mustela vison and various subspecies) furnish ex- 

 cellent furs, and were among the first mustelids to have been bred in 

 captivity for their furs, over seventy years ago in New York. During 

 the American Civil War breeding stock sold for $30 a pair. 28 'There 

 have been hundreds of mink farms in America" (Jones). Some sta- 

 tistics of mink skin production have been given on a preceding page. 

 We may add that there were 10,787 mink skins, worth $20,668 shipped 

 from Alaska in 1923. 29 



As with weasels, minks eat any small animals obtainable, such as 

 mice, rats, chipmunks, squirrels, muskrats, rabbits, birds and their eggs, 

 frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, fish, insects, crustaceans, mussels, 

 etc. ; are sometimes destructive to ducks and marsh-dwelling birds, oc- 

 casionally destroy many fish in fish ponds ; and individuals that acquire 

 the poultry habit and obtain access to poultry yards or buildings may 

 kill thirty or forty chickens in one night, 30 which may be prevented by 

 proper construction. One Texas mink stomach contained remains of a 

 wood rat. 31 They are "inveterate and successful ratters and mousers," 

 and also destroy the eggs of snapping turtles, which are enemies of wild 

 ducks. 32 



Subfamily Gidoninac THE WOLVERENES 



The wolverenes (Gido) are frequently called "gluttons," because of 

 supposed greediness, but they are probably not more greedy than other 

 carnivorous mammals when food is abundant. They are credited with 

 following trappers in their rounds and killing every animal they find in 

 the traps. They are rather scarce and their furs are valuable. They are 

 bold hunters, as well as scavengers, eating carrion freely, breaking into 

 provision caches, killing and eating marmots, gophers, rabbits, squirrels, 

 rats, mice and any other small mammals or birds they can capture. 33 



28 Dearborn, Fur farming as a side issue, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1916, 

 pp. 489-506. Ashbrook, Mink raising, U. S. Biol. Surv. Leaflet No. 8, 1928; Fur 

 farming for profit, pp. 137-147, 1928. Jones, Fur farming in Canada, pp. 72-78, 1913. 



29 California Fish and Game, x, 82, 1924. 



"Howell, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 45, p. 37, 1921. Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, 

 p. 173, 1926. Ashbrook, Mink raising, U. S. Biol. Surv. Leaflet No. 8, 1928. Annin, 

 Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., iv, 85-86, 1884. Fisher, Yearbook U. S. Dept Agric. for 

 1908, p. 190. 



31 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 25, pp. 196-197, 1905. 



32 Seton, Lives of game animals, n, Part 2, pp. 518-560, 1929, citing Forest and 

 Stream, May 14, 1910, p. 770, and June n, 1910, p. 934. Fisher, Yearbook U. S. Dept. 

 Agric. for 1908, pp. 191-192. 



33 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 178, 1926. Fry, California Fish and Game, 

 ix, 129-134, 1923. 



