In the San Juan Islands minks have forsaken the shoreline and roam over the uplands, feeding on the abundant, feral domestic rabbits. I found evidence of their presence far inland, miles from water, in grassy and bushy wastes; along the beaches their tracks were rarely seen. Along Puget Sound, minks spend part of their time on the beaches, feeding on dead fish and other marine animal life. These animals, however, seem to live along the rivers and streams flowing into the sound. Along the ocean coast, some minks seem to live exclusively in the marine shoreline habitat.
The mink ascends some distance into the Cascade and Olympic mountains along the larger watercourses. There are reliable reports of minks from Heart Lake and Lake Dorothy, King County, high in the Cascades. These animals were seen in the summer but they may live in higher parts of the Cascades, at least about some of the larger lakes throughout the year. As far as is known there are no minks on the Columbian Plateau.
The food probably varies with locality. Along the ocean beaches they eat dead sea birds, stranded fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Along Puget Sound their tracks are commonly seen following the caked, decaying seaweed and debris that collects at the high tide mark. [Svihla] and [Svihla] (1931: 22) captured a mink that was feeding on the beach of the Olympic Peninsula. This individual, in captivity, was able to open and feed on clams. Fur trappers report that minks feed on mountain beavers, and that the flesh of the mountain beaver is the best bait for attracting minks. Along streams and lakes, minks are thought to feed on mice, birds, fish, crayfish and thin-shelled, fresh-water mussels. The muskrat forms an important item of diet near the larger lakes and streams. Muskrats trapped near Seattle were often attacked by minks and either eaten or so slashed and torn that their pelts were worth but a fraction of what they would bring in an undamaged condition.
The tracks of a mink noted in freshly fallen snow about a garbage dump on the shore of Lake Washington, Seattle, indicated that the animal had been hunting house rats, which were numerous there. Minks are not uncommon in the marshes along Lake Washington near the University of Washington campus, Seattle, where I discovered evidence of their preying on ducks and coots. The ducks included mallards and green-winged teal, species most apt to alight in small pools in the rushes where a mink might find cover. I found the fresh tracks of one mink about a half-eaten golden tench 8 inches long. The tench is a fish of the sucker tribe, introduced into the lake. Tracks of minks are not uncommonly seen along rivers and streams under conditions that indicate they were hunting crayfish.
The raw pelt of the mink sells usually at from 10 to 20 dollars. The fur is in constant demand and fluctuates in price less than most furs. The average trapper takes a few minks each year along with his catch of muskrats, raccoons, and skunks but some trappers have taken as many as 100 minks in a winter in areas where the animal is especially numerous.
Gulo luscus luteus [Elliot]
Wolverine
Gulo luteus [Elliot], Field Columb. Mus., Publ. 87, zoöl. ser. 3:260, December, 1903.
Gulo luscus luteus [Grinnell], Dixon, and Linsdale, Fur-bearing Mamm. California, Univ. California Press, Berkeley, p. 251, July 22, 1937.
Type.—Obtained on Mt. Whitney, Tulare County, California, by E. Heller; type in Field Museum of Natural History.