184 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



onlj' taking a suck of blood here and a l)ite of flesh 

 there. 



" The Weasel tAvists and winds its supple bodj- into 

 holes Avliere nothing but a snake could follow, now 

 writhing along as if it had no legs, then stretching its 

 neck and peering round with the wagging head and 

 wicked eyes of a Cobra. He devours mice, and sharp- 

 toothed rats tremble before him. If he could learn to 

 forsake bird-nesting and chicken-killing and wreak his 

 love of slaughter on the ' nuisance animals,' he might 

 easily cease being the worst of nuisances himself." 



" This ?>Iink looks a good deal like the Weasel," said 



Rap, " except that it is longer and not half so ftudcy. 



kit is a nice brown, too, like mother's muff that father 



fought her from New York long ago when I was a 



Ijiaby, and that she keeps done up in his silk handker- 



chiifef in a bandbox." 



" It doesn't smell very nicely," said Nat, " though not 

 so badly as the Skunk. Is it a fierce, wicked beast, 

 too ? " 



" For steady-goin' mischief the ]\Iink is only about 

 two stei3s behind the Weasel," broke in Xez. " The 

 Weasel is freaky ; he'll do a lot of mischief in one 

 place, and then take himself off for a long spell ; but 

 the ]\Iink noses out a fine hen roost and then settles 

 down under a shed near by to enjoy himself." 



"If it's in ^lay," added the Doctor, "half a dozen 

 little JNIinks, hairless and blind at first, vl\&\ be hidden 

 in the feather-lined nest, and many a choice morsel will 

 be brought them before they are fully grown in au- 

 tumn, and leave their mother to start life for them- 

 selves. Day and night Minks go hunting and fishing 



