MAMMALS OF UTAH 149 



and treated kindly, he becomes as amiable as a housecat, 

 doing little damage except by ferreting out food not in- 

 tended for him. 



All minks delight in the borderland between water 

 and woods — between the otter and the weasel as it were. 

 They can live in water and catch fish as does the otter or 

 follow prey into the rushes and woods, over logs, into bur- 

 rows and up rough or sloping trees, as does the weasel. 



Each mink covers a large territory, probably five 

 miles across, in a single season, hunting in one place until 

 game becomes scarce, then roaming a mile or so away, up 

 one stream and down another. Thus the male may have 

 several nests or resting places in the hunting range. 



Excepting during the mating season and when rearing 

 the young, minks are solitary animals, a series of scented 

 mud pies along commonly visited streams being their only 

 designed means of communications. 



The mink is not a noisy animal, yet it may growl, utter 

 a deep, savage snarl, give a snarl or almost scream of de- 

 fiance or a shrill screech when trapped. 



Minks appear to be both polygamous and polyandrous. 

 During the mating season — February and March — the 

 males wander restlessly over the snow while the females 

 apparently remain in their burrows. Caged minks have 

 to be separated for the male mink is so determined to brood 

 or feed the young that he is liable to smother them. 



Any low situation within sound of the streams's mur- 

 mur may be chosen for the mink's den, which consists usu- 

 ally of either a long burrow in a bank, or a hole under a 

 log, stump or root. From three to ten young are born 

 towards the last of April, the period of gestation being 

 forty^two days. The tiny, blind, naked things are about 

 the size of one's little finger, pale and helpless. Their 

 eyes open at the end of five weeks, after which the mother 

 begins to give them solid food, such as minnows. 



Trout a foot long are sometimes captured by minks ; 

 and other food consists of frogs, toads, tadpoles, gray rab- 

 bits, snakes, clams, crawfish and carrion. It follows musk- 

 rats persistently and will ravage a whole chicken coop in 

 a single night. 



Mink pelts are worth from 25 cents to $14.00 each, the 

 darker skins being the most valuable. 



