SMALLER MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA 



small an animal hunt over a large territory 

 and pass from one body of water to another. 

 Their wanderings are most pronounced in fall 

 and again during the mating in spring. They 

 are solitary, their companionship with one an- 

 other not outliving the mating period. 



Mink dens are located wherever a safe and 

 convenient shelter is available, and may be a 

 hole in a bank, made by a muskrat or other 

 animal, a cavity under the roots of a tree, a 

 hollow log, a hollow stump, or other place. 

 The nest is made of grass and leaves lined 

 with feathers, hair, and other soft material. A 

 single litter of from four to twelve small and 

 naked young is born during April or May. 



The young remain with the mother through- 

 out the summer, and do not leave her to estab- 

 lish themselves until fall, when they are nearly 

 grown. When captured at an early age they 

 are playful and become attached to the person 

 who cares for them. When caught in a trap 

 they become fiercely aggressive, often uttering 

 squalling shrieks, baring their teeth, and front- 

 ing their captor with a truculent air of savage 

 rage. The adults have scent sacs located under 

 the tail like those of a skunk. When angry or 

 much excited they can emit from these an ex- 

 ceedingly acrid and offensive odor, but have 

 no power to eject it forcibly at an enemy. 



Minks are bold and courageous in their at- 

 titude toward other animals, and attack and kill 

 for food species heavier than themselves, like 

 the varying hare and the muskrat. On land 

 they are persistent hunters, trailing their prey 

 skillfully by scent. They eat mice, rats, chip- 

 munks, squirrels, and birds and birds' eggs of 

 many kinds, including waterfowl, oven-birds, 

 and other ground-frequenting species. About 

 the waterside they vary this diet by capturing 

 fish of many kinds, which they pursue in the 

 water, snakes, frogs, salamanders, insects, crus- 

 taceans, and mussels. 



Their prowess is shown by their raids on 

 chicken-houses, where they often kill many 

 grown fowls in a night, and sometimes drag 

 birds heavier than themselves long distances to 

 their dens. A remarkable indication of the 

 varied menu of the mink was exhibited in a 

 nest found by Dr. C. H. Merriam, where the 

 owner had gathered the bodies of a muskrat, 

 a red squirrel, and a downy woodpecker. 



The value of the mink's furry coat has led 

 to its steady pursuit by trappers in all climes, 

 from the coast of Florida to the borders of 

 sluggish streams on Arctic tundras. Millions 

 of them have fallen victims to this warfare 

 and their skins have gone to adorn mankind. 

 In spite of this the mink today occupies all its 

 original territory, and each year yields a fresh 

 harvest of furs. 



The mink by preference is a forest animal, 

 living along the wooded bottom-lands of rivers 

 or the thicket-grown borders of small streams, 

 where the rich vegetation gives abundance of 

 shelter and at the same time attracts a wealth 

 of small mammals and birds on which it may 

 prey. From these secure coverts it wanders 

 through the surrounding country at night, visit- 



ing many chicken-houses on farms and leaving 

 devastation behind. It is persistent and bold 

 in such forays and in locations near its haunts 

 great care must be exercised to guard against 

 it. Minks have repeatedly raided the enclosures 

 of the National Zoological Park in Washington. 



Now and then, on the banks of some wild 

 stream, one will try to appropriate the catch 

 lying at the very feet of a lone fisherman. A 

 naturalist fishing on a stream in northern 

 Canada, seeing a mink making free with his 

 catch, set a small steel trap on the bare ground, 

 and holding the attached chain in one hand 

 raised and slowly drew toward him the fish 

 upon which the mink was feeding. The mink, 

 without hesitation, followed the fish and was 

 caught in the trap. 



An abundance of food may modify the pref- 

 erence of the mink for wooded or partly wood- 

 ed ccuntry. The marshy and treeless tundra 

 lying near sea-level in the triangle between the 

 coast of Bering Sea, and the lower parts of 

 the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers offers such 

 an attractive situation differing from their 

 usual haunts. The sluggish streams and num- 

 berless > ponds abound with small fish four 

 to five inches long. Minks swarm in this area 

 to such an extent that the Eskimos who in- 

 habit the district are known among the natives 

 of the surrounding region as the "mink people." 

 Steel traps are used there, but a primitive 

 method is even more successful. A wicker 

 fence is built across a narrow stream and a 

 small fyke fish-trap placed in it. In swimming 

 along the stream minks pass into the trap like 

 fish, and I knew of from 10 to 15 being thus 

 taken in one day. 



During my residence in that region from 

 10,000 to 15,000 mink skins were caught in 

 this tundra district annually, and the supply 

 appeared to be inexhaustible. With the grow- 

 ing occupation of the continent and the increas- 

 ing demand for furs, however, the numbers of 

 the mink must surely decrease. To forestall 

 the shortage of furs that seems imminent, ef- 

 forts are now being made to establish fur farm- 

 ing to replace the declining supply of wild furs 

 with those grown under domestication. The 

 mink appears to be well adapted to successful 

 breeding in captivity. The main question to 

 solve is the relation of the cost of caring for 

 the animals to the value of its pelt in the 

 market. 



THE MARTEN, OR AMERICAN SABLE 

 (Martes americana and its relatives) 



(For illustration, see page 453) 



Wild animals possess an endless variety of 

 mental traits which endow them in many in- 

 stances with marked individualities. Few are 

 more strongly characterized in this respect than 

 the marten. One of the most graceful and 

 beautiful of our forest animals, it frequents the 

 more inaccessible parts of the wilderness and 

 retires shyly before the inroads of the settler's 

 ax. Its rich brown coat, so highly prized that 



