AMERICAN MINK TRACKS, SHOWING VARIOUS ARRANGEMENTS AND TAIL MARKS
The typical track of a mink is as in the bottom set at the left, which also illustrates the tail mark. Twelve to twenty-four inches are usually cleared at each bound. This illustration is greatly reduced from natural size (see opposite page and [pages 555] and [575]).
THE RING-TAILED CAT (Bassariscus astutus and its relatives)
(For illustration, [see page 562])
The mild climate and the proximity of the Southwestern States to Mexico and the tropics brings within our borders numerous strange types of wild life. Of these the ring-tailed cat is one of the most strikingly marked and interesting. In the United States it is known by several other names, including “civet cat,” “coon cat,” and “band-tailed cat.” In Mexico it still bears the old Aztec name cacomixtle, except in Lower California, where it is the “babisuri.” It is about the size of a large cat but with proportionately longer and slenderer body, shorter legs, and longer tail. The alternating bands of black and white on the tail proclaim its relationship, not to the cat, to which it has no kinship, but to the raccoon, which has a tail similarly marked. Few mammals possess such a beautifully formed head and face, and its large, mild eyes give it a vivid expression of intelligence.
The ring-tailed cat occupies areas under such differing climates as to produce geographic races, but none of them vary strikingly from the typical animal here illustrated. They range from Oregon, Nevada, southern Utah, Colorado, and Texas south to Costa Rica. In Mexico they occur from near sealevel up to an altitude of about 10,000 feet. While chiefly rock-inhabiting species, they sometimes live in the forests and as a rule make their dens in caves and deep crevices, but sometimes in hollow trees or about houses. Their young, from three to four in number, are born in May or June.
In the Southwest they frequent some of the ruined cliff dwellings, and I have found them haunting many of the ancient ruins of Mexico. Their presence in little caves and other sheltered spots along cliffs and rock walls bordering canyons or on mountain slopes may usually be known by an examination of the fine dust which accumulates in sheltered places. Whenever present their delicate cat-like tracks will be found where they have been hunting mice or other small game.
Strictly nocturnal, they do not sally forth from their dens until darkness is complete. During the night they are restless and frequently wander far and wide in search of food, and apparently at times merely to satisfy a spirit of inquiry. Their inquisitive nature frequently leads them to explore the streets of towns and cities on the Mexican table-land, filled though these places are with dogs. At daybreak, tracks left in the dusty streets tell the story of their wanderings, as they often do also in the case of opossums.
