148 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



of the woodland lakes of northern New Hampshire, 

 and rarely he is met with in the wilder parts of 

 Massachusetts. 



The prey of this thoroughly aquatic mammal, 

 which, somewhat web-footed, swims and dives like a 

 fish, consists of mice, rats, muskrats, birds, eggs, fish, 



The Mink. 



frogs, crayfish, and fresh-water mussels. He is, hke 

 the weasel, the j^articular enemy of the rat, who, it 

 is said, gives no battle, but yields at once ; the mink 

 severs the main blood-vessels of the neck so skillfully 

 that the deed is scarcely observable.* Occasionally 

 the animal enters the henhouse or the poultry yard 

 and makes away with a number of chickens and ducks ; 

 but, unlike the weasel, he does not proceed to wan- 

 ton murder. He takes one chicken at a time, and 

 most likely devours it, flesh, bones, and all ; then, if 

 he feels like it, he helps himself to another. When, 



■ Fur-bearing Animals. Elliott Coues. 



