212 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
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 look- 
ing carefully after them, the minks 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 toler- 
ably 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 overhanging roots on the side of the 
bank. A mink was in close pursuit, and dived 
after it; in a moment afterwards it reappeared 
with the fish in its mouth. By a sudden rush 
we induced it to drop the trout, which was up- 
wards of a foot in length. 
We are disposed to believe, however, that 
fishes are not the principal] food on which the 
