SWIMMERS 



the best skins bringing only fifty or seventy-five 

 cents apiece at that time. And as muskrat fur 

 belonging to the same class was correspondingly 

 cheap, very few traps were set for either animal, 

 so that the minks were able to roam about in 

 comparative safety. At that time I remember 

 that their tracks were to be seen about every- 

 where in the winter, along the road-sides and by 

 every brook and mill-pond. 



For the last few years, however, their fur has 

 been steadily advancing in favour and their num- 

 bers have decreased accordingly ; and even where 

 they are reasonably abundant in summer and 

 early fall, there are usually few to be found after 

 the first of the winter. Last season, for example, 

 there were several families of them, apparently, in 

 this immediate vicinity, as I repeatedly noticed 

 their footprints about the water, and had two 

 or three good opportunities for observing the 

 animals themselves. 



But I heard of at least ten that were killed 



121 



