Sel) 
AMERICAN MARTEN; HUDSON BAY SABLE. 
Mustela americana Turton. 
Mustela americanus Turton, Linn. Syst. Nat., I., 1806, p. 60. 
Mustela martes, Auct. 
Recorded by Kennicott from Cook county, Illinois. Long ex- 
tinct within the state. _No record of its occurrence in this county. 
FISHER. 
Mustela canadensis Schreber. 
(Saugth., III., Text, p. 492, 1777, Pl. CXXIV., 1776.) 
Kennicott says that ‘“‘the fisher used frequently to be seen in the 
heavy timber along Lake Michigan.” It is now extinct throughout 
the state so far as known. There is no positive proof that it was 
ever taken in this county. 
MINK. 
Putorius vison (Schreber). 
Mustela vison Schreb., Saugth., II]., 1777, p. 463. 
The mink is found, under suitable conditions, throughout the 
United States and British America to Hudson Bay and northern 
Alaska. 
The length of the common mink is from 15 to 18 inches (381 mm. 
—450 mm.), and the length of the tail is 6 to 8 inches (152 mm.—203 
mm. ). 
Its color varies from a dull yellowish-brown—near russet of 
Ridgway—to a deep chocolate or seal-brown, but slightly, if at all, 
paler below. The tail is darker—blackish. The chin, and usually a 
patch on the breast and several spots between the fore legs are 
white. The tip of the tail also is sometimes white. 
Though never abundant in this state, the mink is found along 
all our watercourses. Next to the otter it is the most expert in 
aquatic life of any of our mammals. Nevertheless, it is sometimes 
found quite remote from any water, and readily makes its way over 
long distances when streams or ponds are frozen or dried up. A 
goodly number are taken in this county each winter, many of them 
being caught in the mouths of tile-drains along drainage ditches in 
the open country. Wherever there is a farmhouse near a stream 
