92 With Rod and Gun in New England 



cS 



how many fish can be disposed of by a mink. It happened a good many 

 years ago, on the Rangeley stream, long before it was closed to anglers. I 

 had waded about half its length and had taken over a dozen beautiful 

 trout ; old fishermen will well remember how bright and silvery the trout of 

 that stream used to be. 



My catch filled my creel, and as I desired to fish the pool below, at the 

 junction with, I think, the Kennebago stream, I left my trout in a cool, 

 shady spot on the shore, covering them with ferns and intending to get 

 them on my return up the river. 



I was gone less than an hour, but found on searching for them that 

 my trout had disappeared. As I stood for a moment, wondering who the 

 thief could be, a rustling in the bushes attracted my attention, and in a 

 moment I saw a mink dragging my last trout away. I threw a stone at the 

 beast and he had the impudence to drop the fish and hiss at me. I quickly 

 seized another rock to hurl at him, but the mink had disappeared. 



Not alone among fish is the mink destructive, for its great strength 

 and activity enable it to conquer animals much its superior in size, often 

 killing the rabbit and hare, and I have known it to drive off a cur dog when 

 attacked by him. 



The mink has an enemy in every sportsman because of its habit of 

 stealing on a sleeping covey of quails, or a brood of partridges, and 

 slaughtering every one possible. It often enters the home of a rabbit, and 

 generally makes a clean sweep of old and young. In seizing its prey, 

 it throws its lithe body over and around it, usually biting it at the junction 

 of the head and spine, or through the skull, into the brain. An instance 

 that once fell under my notice will go to show the destructive propensities 

 of this animal. 



An acquaintance of mine, a farmer, had a choice flock of nineteen 

 fowls : the hen house was built on the side of a hill, the back being dug 

 into the hill, and walled up; this was a mistake — no hen house should 

 have any stone wall in its construction, it but affords comfortable homes 

 for rats and other vermin, and has no recommendation, not even that of 

 economy. One evening a hen was heard squalling, and on going to the 

 hennery to discover the cause of her outcries, every hen in the flock was 

 found dead, each with a bloody spot at the nape of the neck, or a little 

 wound just over the eye. Search was made for the assassin, but the artful 

 beast was safe behind the stone wall. The hens were removed ; a steel 

 trap, baited with one of their heads set, and the scamp was found the next 

 morning safely caught in the jaws of the trap. 



The nature of the mink is eminently blood-thirsty ; it will continue 

 killing as long as it has anything to kill. I have often seen its tracks in 

 the snow, following those of a rabbit, and have even followed them until I 

 found the spot where the unfortunate animal was slaughtered. 



