66 



MAMMALIA. 



which it returns every twenty-four hours or thereabouts. My experi- 

 ence, in certain cases at least, proves the contrary. On the banks of a 

 stream, along which I once had a line of traps, I noticed at intervals 

 of two or three weeks, the tracks of an unusually lari^e Mink. After 

 a long- while I succeeded in tracking him to an old bridge, in a pas- 

 ture, and on lifting the planks at one end discovered his nest (or one 

 of them). It consisted of a mass of dead leaves, a foot or more in 

 thickness, well lined with feathers. Alongside it were the remains of 

 a muskrat, a red squirrel, and a downy woodpecker, but the Mink 

 was not there — he had gone on up the stream. Concealing a good 

 Newhouse steel trap in the approach to his nest, I replaced the old 

 planks and went away. This was about the middle of October. 

 Two weeks passed without any indication of his return, but the time 

 had arrived when he might be expected to " happen around" almost 

 any day. I therefore made daily visits to the stream to search for 

 his tracks, taking care to avoid the immediate neighborhood of the 

 bridge. A heavy snow-storm now set in and next morning a foot of 

 newly fallen snow covered the ground. During this storm the Mink 

 returned and was caught. He was the largest and handsomest Mink 

 I have ever seen, and I regret to have lost the record of his dimen- 

 sions, taken at the time. Some idea, however, of his size and the 

 quality of his fur may be had from the fact that his pelt sold for four- 

 teen dollars. 



This, and other more or less similar experiences, have convinced 

 me that the Mink frequendy, if not commonly, makes long excursions, 

 like the Otter, following one water-course and then another, and re- 

 turning over the same route; and I believe that they have a number 

 of nests scattered at convenient intervals along these circuits. This 

 habit may be confined to the old males, but whether it is so or not 

 remains to be proven. 



Concernine its manner and actions when caugfht we have the fol- 

 lowing graphic account from the facile pen of Dr. Coues : " One who 

 has not taken a Mink in a steel trap can scarcely form an idea of the 



