MINK. 253 



Length of tail (vertebrae) 7i do. 



" tail, to end of hair .... 8 do. 



A small specimen, of a black colour, from the Catskill mountains. 



Length of head and body 11 inches. 



" tail (vertebrae) ..... 6 do. 



" tail, to end of hair .... 7 do. 



HABITS. 



Next to the ermine, the Mink is the most active and destructive little 

 depredator that prowls around the farm-yard, or the farmer's duck-pond ; 

 where the presence of one or two of these animals will soon be made 

 kno^vn by the sudden disappearance of sundry joung ducks and chickens. 

 The vigilant farmer may perhaps see a fine fowl moving in a singular 

 and most involuntary manner, in the clutches of a Mink, towards a fis- 

 sure in a rock or a hole in some pile of stones, in the gray of the morn- 

 ing, and should he rush to the spot to ascertain the fate of the unfortunate 

 bird, he will see it suddenly twitched into a hole too deep for him to 

 fathom and wish he had carried with him his double-barreled gun, to 

 have ended at once the life of the voracious destroyer of his carefully 

 tended poultry. Our friend, the farmer, is not, however, disposed to 

 allow the Mink to carry on the sport long, and therefore straitway 

 repairs to the house for his gun, and if it be loaded and ready for use, (as 

 it always should be in every well-regulated farm-house,) he speedily re- 

 turns with it to watch for the re-appearance of the Mink and shoot him 

 ere he has the opportunity to depopulate his poultry-yard. The farmer 

 now takes a stand facing the retreat into which the Mink has carried his 

 property, and waits patiently until it may please him to show his head 

 again. This, however, the cunning rogue w^ill not always accommodate 

 him by doing, and he may lose much time to no purpose. Let us intro- 

 duce you to a scene on our own little place near New- York. 



There is a small brook, fed by several springs of pure water, which 

 we have caused to be stopped by a stone dam to make a pond for ducks 

 in the summer and ice in the winter ; above the pond is a rough bank of 

 stones through which the water filters into the pond. There is a little 

 space near this where the sand and gravel have formed a diminutive 

 beach. The ducks descending to the water are compelled to pass near 

 this stony bank. Here a Mink had fixed his quarters with certainly a 

 degree of judgment and audacity worthy of high praise, for no settle- 

 ment could promise to be more to his mind. At early dawn the crowing 

 of several fine cocks, the cackling of many hens and chickens, and the 



