Ferrets are much used, both in Britain and America, chiefly for killing Rats and for driving Rabbits out of their burrows. For the latter function the Ferret is muzzled, to prevent its killing the Rabbit in the burrow; the latter is either netted or killed immediately, as soon as it is driven out. The Ferret is also frequently employed to kill fowls for the table. Its particularly neat method of slaughtering by one bite in the neck is much admired by Ferret-fanciers, who make quite a pet of the animal. It, however, never shows the slightest affection for its master, and has usually to be confined: the necessity of this is shown in an instance, quoted by Bell, in which a child was attacked in its cradle, and only rescued after the veins of its neck had been severed, its face, neck, and arms lacerated, and its eyes so injured that the sight of one of them was permanently lost.
THE MINK.[174]
This important fur-producing animal is found in the northern parts of both hemispheres under various specific forms, the most important of which are the European Mink (P. lutreola) and the American Mink (P. vison). Although most nearly allied to the Stoats and Weasels, it shows a certain resemblance to the Martens in its larger and stouter body, which attains a length of from fifteen to eighteen inches, the tail being about seven or eight inches long, and bushy at the tip. Like most of its allies, it has two kinds of fur—“a soft matted under fur, mixed with long, stiff, lustrous hairs.” The colour varies from dull yellowish-brown to dark chocolate-brown; the upper lip is usually white in the European, dark in the American species. The scent-glands are well developed, and their secretion is second only in offensiveness to that of the Skunk.
The habits of the Mink differ altogether from those of the other species of the genus. As Dr. Coues observes, “It is to the water what the other Weasels are to the land, or the Martens to the trees. It is as essentially aquatic in its habits as the Otter, Beaver, or Musk Rat, and spends, perhaps, more of its time in the water than it does on land. In adaptation to this mode of life, the pelage has that peculiar glossiness of the longer bristly hairs and felting of the close under fur which best resists the water.” It feeds chiefly upon aquatic or amphibious animals, such as fish, frogs, crayfish, molluscs, and the like, but also preys largely upon the smaller Mammals. It is stated that it is not an indiscriminate slaughterer, but kills only what is necessary for its actual wants.
In America the Mink has been regularly domesticated and trained as a Rat-catcher, like the Ferret. “Minkeries” have been established in connection with farm-yards, and have proved in more than one instance eminently successful. The animals soon allow themselves to be handled, and besides becoming good Ratters, bring their owner a very considerable profit by their fur, for which alone it is well worth while to breed them, as the expense of keeping them is trifling.
THE GRISON.[175]
This is a Weasel-like animal, found only in South America, and distinguished from its nearest relations, the Martens and Weasels, by the fact that the colour of the upper is lighter than that of the lower surface of its body, the former being grey, the latter dark brown. Its whole length is rather under a yard; of this not more than a third is taken up by the tail. It is found in plantations and in the neighbourhood of buildings, and makes its abode in hollow trees, clefts in rocks, and holes in the earth.
As to its disposition, some notion may be gained from a tale told by Bell of a tame specimen in his possession. He says that it “was very fond of Frogs, but these were not the only animals which were obnoxious to its voracity. On one occasion, in the winter, I had placed it in its cage, in a room with a fire, where I had also two young Alligators, which in general were stupidly tame. On going into the room in the morning, I found the Grison at large, and one of the Alligators dead, with a hole eaten under the fore-leg, where the great nerves and blood-vessels were torn through; and the other Alligator began snapping furiously at every one who attempted to approach it.”
GRISON.