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SNARING THE VALUABLE MINK In Common with All Good. Furs, Its Skin Is Now Valuable. Canadian Skins Are Best Animal Fountl In All Parts of the Continent. Time was when the market value of the fur of the mink was so low that the pioneer trappers of the Rocky Mountains did not consider the skin of a mink worth, taking. Then a change in the fashions brought its fur into prominence. Fifty years ago the mink ranked with the beaver, really far above it when the relative size of the animals is taken into consideration. A few years later sealskin furs became the rage and mink fur decreased in value until prime skins were quoted at hardly a dollar apiece. They remained at this low price for possibly ten years, tlieo took a sudden jump upward and are now classed among the high-priced furs. Trappers and fur dealers recognize six varieties, or species, of the mink. These are the southern, the western or Pacific, the middle states, the Minnesota, the Adirondack and the New England or Canadian, respectively. How this classification corresponds with that of the naturalist I am unable to sav. It lias nothing to do with technicalities of that "sort, but it is based on the size of the respective species and the color and quality of the fur. The southern variety has the least value; the Canadian, though much the smallest, ranks highest, because of its intensely black, glossy fur. The Minnesota is the largest, its dressed carcass often weighing as much as four or even five pounds. Compared with the others, it is slow and sluggish in its movements and often becomes quite fat. When in good condition and properly dressed, its flesh makes an excellent article of food. In one form or another the mink is found in every part of the United States and Canada; its six varieties are identical in habits. Its favorite haunt is along the bank of some rather rapid stream abounding with small fish, but it frequents swamps and stagnant pools in search of frogs and often visits farm buildings, where it is extremely destructive to poultry of all kinds, and even to lambs and small pigs. However, its redeeming quality in this resnect is tiie fact that it will attack rats and mice just as readily as chickens. MANY .DELICACIES ON THE MINKS MENU. The mink is often called a bloodthirsty little wretch because it will frequently kill a dozen or more chickens and leave their carcasses uneaten, and practically untouched except for a wound in the thrfciti This is owing to the fact that it is excessively fond of warm, Iresh blotids. Also it will break eggs in search of a favorite food: it wil not eat them except when in an advanced stager of incubation. It is also said that it is fond of putrid meat. The truth is that it will greedily cat the maggots and- f ies which inhabit such meat and will tear a putrid carcass into small bits in search of such food, but it will not eat carrion. During the summer it often inhabits, temporarily. holes under stumps, stones, logs and bushes, and it is sometimes found in the crevices of stone walls. But its den, in which it mates and rears its young, is always a burrow in the side of a steep, overhanging bank, where the entrance is securely hidden from view. It mates rather lata in the fall, and tiie sexes live in apparent harmony until along toward spring, when the males are driven from the dens. The young, of which there are from four to six in a litter, are brought forth at the beginning of warm weather and remain with the mother, often following her in her journeys, until early in the . fall, when they are forced to shift for themselves. There is little affection between the individuals. In the south the fur is at its best only from late in December until early in March. But in the north the prime season includes November and continues until the middle of April, and the kits of the previous year yield much the darkest and choicest fur, though the hides are smaller. MINK HAKES WELL-BEATEN PATH. The mink is nocturnal in its habits, and about the only signs that it ever gives of its presence are Us tracks and the damage it does in the poultry house. Its work .may be identified by the clean-cut incisions in the throats of its victims and the absence of blood. The mink is a great traveler, going many times back and forth between two or more places, often at considerable distances apart, and making a well-beaten until. Wherever practicable this patli is in the drvpartof the channel of a stream next to the shore "and closely hugging the bank. No other animal makes a similar path. In the open- field, or on the snow, the tracks indicate an extremely erratic course, running back and forth in all directions, circling and crossing in the most intricate manner, as the animal explores every nook and cranny in its course. The mink may be caught by a spring pole, deadfall or snare and, occasionally, in a box trap. However, it does not enter these readily and a steel trap is much more effective. These may be baited so as to catch the animals by the head, or so set as to catcli them by the legs. In the latter case a Number 1 trap is large enough; in the former a Number 2 should be used. When a mink lias entered a poultry house, the first thing is to ascertain just where it entered. Then set a trap in such a manner that, upon its next entrance, it cannot well escape being caught. About the third or fourth higiit it will return. EASY TO TRAP; HAS NO MAN SCENT. Minks have almost no fear of the man scent, and a trap cleverly concealed in the path will almost invariably catch one. The best way, however, is to set a trap in shallow water, so as to make an island, alnnit two feet from where the patli enters the water. Double-jawed traps should always le used, or some other precautionary measure taken, or the animals will eat their legs off and eseae. When a bait is used it is best to suspend it about two feet from the ground and conceal the trap immediately beneath. It should always be remembered that the mink and muskrat occupy the same territory and wage a deadly warfare against eacli other. If a muskrat finds a mink in a trap, or otherwise at a disadvantage, it will certainly attack its enemy and seriously damage the fur. It is said that frogs or small fish make the best bait. To a certain extent this is true. But at the season when mink fur is at its best such bait is not available. The "best available baits are pieces of fresh, bloody meat, canned salmon, sardines and salt codfish. Eggs are good, but small, dead birds only fair, probably on account of the unnatural position in which the carcasses must be placed. Scents of various kinds are often used to attract the mink. The best is a mixture of fisli oil and oil of peppermint. This suggests natural odors of u swamp. But better than this is a trail made by dragging a piece of bloody meat along the ground, preferably the skinned carcass of a muskrat, with musk glands slightly opened. C. 0. Ormsbee in Country Gentleman.
