The Minh. 451 



to tlie Giver of all good ; she continues sipping and advancing 

 gradually ; she has now approached the fatal rocks, when with a 

 sudden rush the Mink has seized her ; ere he can reggio his hole 

 however, our gun's sharp crack is heard and the marauder lies 

 before us." 



" We acknowledge that we have little inclination to say any- 

 thing in defence of the Mink. We must admit, however, that 

 although he is a cunning and destructive rogue, his next door 

 neighbour, the ermine or common weasel, goes infinitely beyond 

 him in his mischievous propensities. Whilst the Mink is satisfied 

 with destroying one or two fowls at a time, on which he makes a 

 hearty meal ; the weasel, in the very spirit of wanton destructive- 

 ness, sometimes in a single night puts to death every tenant of 

 the poultry-house !" 



" Whilst residing at Henderson, on the banks of the Ohio river, 

 we observed that Minks vere quite abundant, and often saw them 

 carrying rats which they caught like the weasel or ferret, and 

 conveyed away in their mouths, holding them by the neck in the 

 manner of a cat." 



" Along the trout streams of our Eastern and Northern States 

 the Mink has been known to steal fish that having been caught by 

 some angler, had been left tied together with a string while the 

 fisherman proceeded farther in quest of more. An angler informed 

 us that he had lost in this way thirty or forty fine trout, which a 

 Mink dragged off the bank into the stream and devoured, and we 

 have been told that by looking carefully after them, the Mink 

 could be seen watching the fisherman and in readiness to take his 

 fish, should he leave it at any distance behind him. Mr. Hutson 

 of Halifax informed us that he had a salmon weighing four pounds 

 carried off" by one of them." 



" We have observed that the Mink is a tolerably expert fisher. 

 On one occasion, whilst seated near a trout-brook in the northern 

 part of the State of" New York, we heard a sudden splashing in 

 the stream and saw a large trout gliding through the shallow 

 water and making for some long overhanging roots on the side of 

 the bank. A Mink was in close pursuit, and dived after it ; in a 

 moment afterwards it re-appeared with the fish in its mouth. By 

 a sudden rush we induced it to drop the trout, which was upwards 

 of a foot in length." 



" We are disposed to believe, however, that fishes are not the 

 principal food on which the Mink subsists. We have sometimes 



