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MINK

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 546 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MINK , a name for certain large See also:

species of the zoological genus Pulorius (See also:Polecat), distinguished by slight structural modifications and semi-aquatic habits. The two best-known species, so much alike in See also:size, See also:form, See also:colour and habits that, although they are widely separated geographically, some zoologists question their specific distinction, are P. lutreola, the Norz or Sumpfotter (See also:marsh-See also:otter) of eastern See also:Europe, and P. vison, the mink of See also:North See also:America. The former inhabits See also:Finland, See also:Poland and the greater See also:part of See also:Russia, though not found See also:east of the Ural Mountains. Formerly it extended westward into central See also:Germany, but it is now very rare, if not See also:extinct, in that See also:country. The latter is found in places which suit its habits throughout the whole of North America. Another form, P. sibiricus, from eastern See also:Asia, of which much less is known, appears to connect the true minks with the polecats. The name may have originated in the See also:Swedish maenk applied to the See also:European See also:animal. See also:Captain See also:John See also:Smith, in his See also:History of See also:Virginia (1626), at p. 27 speaks of " Martins, Powlecats, Weesels and Minkes," showing that the animal must at that See also:time have been distinguished by a See also:vernacular appellation from its xvIII. 18congeners. By later authors, as See also:Lawson (1709) and See also:Pennant (1784), it is often written " Minx." For the following description, chiefly taken from the See also:American form (though almost equally applicable to that of Europe) we are mainly indebted to Dr See also:Elliott See also:Coues's See also:Fur-bearing Animals of North America, 1877. In size it much resembles the See also:English polecat-the length of the See also:head and See also:body being usually from 15 to 18 in., that of the tail to the end of the See also:hair about 9 in.

The See also:

female is considerably smaller than the male. The tail is bushy, but tapering at the end. The ears are small, See also:low, rounded, and scarcely project beyond the adjacent fur. The pelage consists of a dense, soft, matted under fur, mixed with See also:long, stiff, lustrous hairs on all parts of the body and tail. The See also:gloss is greatest on the upper parts; on the tail the bristly hairs predominate. See also:Northern specimens have the finest and most glistening pelage; in those from See also:southern regions there is less difference between the under and over fur, and the whole pelage is coarser and harsher. In colour different specimens See also:present a considerable range of variation, but the animal is ordinarily of a See also:rich dark See also:brown, scarcely or not paler below than on the See also:general upper parts; but the back 1I is usually the darkest, and the tail is nearly See also:black. The under See also:jaw, from the See also:chin about as far back as the See also:angle of the mouth, is generally See also:white. In the European mink the upper See also:lip is also white, but, as this occasionally occurs in American specimens, it fails as an absolutely distinguishing See also:character. Besides the white on the chin, there are- often other irregular white patches on the under parts of the body. In very rare instances the tail is tipped with white. The fur is important in See also:commerce.

The See also:

principal characteristic of the mink in comparison with its congeners is its amphibious mode of See also:life. It is to the See also:water what the other weasels are to the See also:land, or See also:martens to the trees, being as essentially aquatic in its habits as the otter,, See also:beaver, or See also:musk-See also:rat, and spending perhaps more of its time in the water than it does on land. It swims with most of the body. submerged, and dives with perfect ease, remaining long without coming to the See also:surface to breathe. It makes its See also:nest in burrows in the See also:banks of streams, breeding once a See also:year about the See also:month of See also:April, and producing five or six See also:young at a See also:birth. Its See also:food consists of frogs, See also:fish, fresh-water molluscs and crustaceans, as well as mice, rats, musk rats, rabbits and small birds. In See also:common with the other animals of the genus, it has a very See also:peculiar and disagreeable effluvium, which, according to Dr Coues, is more powerful, penetrating and lasting than that of any animal of the country except the See also:skunk. (W. H.

End of Article: MINK

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