THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. I3I 



the idea. But during the first night of their incarceration the parent 

 mink made a visit or visits to the shed and succeeded in pushing 

 one of the pieces of board covering aside and in removing the entire 

 group of her young to a locahty more congenial to the original idea 

 of mink destiny. The man was convinced of the truth of this 

 explanation of the vacancy by the tracks visible in the sawdust by 

 which the floor of the woodshed was bestrewn, and also, he said, he 

 had been disturbed in the night by the continual barking and rest- 

 lessness of his dog, who was confined by a secure chain in a kennel 

 about seven or eight paces from the scene of the mother mink's 

 affectionate operations. 



The minks are mostly nocturnal in their movements, and in their 

 mating season, late in February or early in March, have been traced 

 on newly fallen snow four or five miles in a single night. They seem 

 to have the faculty of being able to remain under water for one or 

 two minutes at a time, and when hotly chased will dive under icy 

 surfaces to reappear at almost incredible distances from the point of 

 vanishment. Like the musk-rat, the mink has favorite retreats in 

 rear of the timbers of bridges and culverts, and in such dens and 

 cavities scores of frogs' bodies are sometimes found that the mink 

 family circle had stored for winter supply. 



One day last summer, whilst engaged hoeing corn, a fresh mink 

 track made during the night previous was noticed by a friend of the 

 writer of this, and a little scrutiny revealed the fact that Mr. Mink had 

 come from its home in the nearby woods to visit a well that was 

 daily made use of for the purpose of supplying water to farm stock. 

 The well was enclosed by a framework of boards two feet high, and 

 the water level was three or four feet below the surface of the ground. 

 The mink had apparently made this surreptitious visit to capture a 

 good sized batrachian, who for a number of weeks previously had 

 had its contented home in the well, and which after this proven visit 

 of its natural enemy was no more seen of human eyes. The mud 

 puddles about the well, and water splashes on the boards gave 

 indubitable proof of the mink's proceedings, and the missing frog — 

 it would perhaps be a " bull " to term an object lesson. 



Once when performing statute labor on a new piece of road 

 through a swamp, we nearly stumbled on the nest of a ruffed grouse 

 containing twelve or thirteen eggs on which the old bird had been 



