26 



Brown Mink or Common Mink, Putorim vison lutreocephalits 

 Harlan. 



The common mink of hilly regions and lowlands in all parts of 

 the State. Frequents water courses, large and small, but is espe- 

 cially fond of himting along the banks of small woodland streams. 

 Their long journeys are made mostly by night but they may oc- 

 casionally be seen moving about by day. As a boy, I trapped many 

 minks and regarded no bait for the purpose as being so good as a 

 piece of freshly-killed rabbit. Occasionally visits chicken roosts but 

 most of the food consists of small mammals and other form of ani- 

 mal life that it finds along streams. 



New York Weasel, Putoriiis novehoracensis Emmons. 



The common weasel found in almost every locality. In the colder 

 mountain districts white individuals are found occasionally in 

 winter. Farther north the color is always white in winter and 

 bro\ATi in summer. In the Austral and Transition zones of this 

 State the color is bro^^oi throughout the year but the ^vinter pelage 

 is a lighter shade of brown than that of summer. Kills poultry, 

 rabbits and other small mammals and birds. Its victims are often 

 bitten about the head or throat and only the blood taken. 



Pennant's Martin or Fisher, Mustela pennanti Erx. ' 



Fifty years ago it was not uncormnon for the fisher or "black 

 fox" to be taken in our forests. Of late years it has become very 

 rare and may be extinct within our limits. Mr. E. C. Barrett, of 

 Beckley, has informed me that he bought three fisher skins from 

 Moses Stover, one in 1871, one in 1872 and one in 1873, paying for 

 them $3.00, $3.50 and $5.00. Stover caught the three animals on 

 Clear Fork of Big Coal river. These were the last heard of in that 

 section of the State. 



In an early day fishers were often caught in log traps s^t by 

 trappers fot" bears. They are accredited by old hunters of bdnir 

 so active that they could take the bait from a log bear-trap and 

 spring out before the cover of the trap dropped into dIhcp. TIk.v 



