TENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 79 
they are savage, and can and will inflict a bad wound, as I know 
from experience. 
The bittern, a bird something after the nature of the heron, 
only very much smaller, must do some damage. I always shoot 
him when I can. 
Then I have the muskrat. In his poaching he is after much 
the same food as the owls, only I think not quite as much of a 
variety. The only thing I have observed him taking was the 
caddis worm, which he has a great liking for. I have seen at 
least a peck of the empty caddis worm cases in one pile on the 
bank at the water’s edge, which he had taken from the stream. 
He is also troublesome, and sometimes causes much damage by 
undermining the banks of your ponds, and by eating off the slats 
to your screens. I also make way with these by trapping in the 
winter and spring. At this season their fur is in prime order, 
and will sell for enough to pay for the time and trouble. I sell 
every spring from ten to fifteen dollars’ worth of their fur. I 
have never seen any evidence of their catching or eating fish. 
Then comes the mink, which is one of the greatest enemies the 
fishculturist has to contend with. If a trout is in the stream or 
pond, and they want it they will have it. If they get the notion 
of coming to one of your ponds they will follow it up until the 
fish are gone. If you don’t keep good watch they will have half 
of them before you are aware of it. As soon as you think a 
mink is taking your fish lay for him. See how and where he 
goes into the pond. You will soon see that he enters at about 
the same place each time ; then set your trap just under the water, 
so that when he slides down (as he thinks) into the pond he will 
slide into the trap instead. In this way I took the mother and 
brood of four almost full-grown minksintwo nights. One mink 
may destroy a hundred dollars’ worth of fish in a short time. 
They often appear to catch them for the sport of the thing. I 
have seen them slide down the bank of a stream into the water, 
coming up with a fish, and repeating it time and again, hardly 
ever failing to get one. 
Snakes.—1 will not say all the snakes found along a stream 
will catch fish, but I have seen what I called a water-adder, thirty 
inches long, catch a trout of five ounces in weight, and I have 
