Volume 1

The quadrupeds of North America / By John James Audubon...and the Rev. John Bachman.

  • Audubon, John James, 1785-1851.
Date:
1852-1854 [©1849-1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The quadrupeds of North America / By John James Audubon...and the Rev. John Bachman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    glossy both on the body and the tail, and to a considerable extent conceal the downy fur beneath. COLOUR. Under fur, light brownish-yellow; the longer hairs, and the surface of the fur, are of a uniform brown or tawny colour, except the ears, which are a little lighter, and the sides of the face, under surface, tail, and poste- rior part of the back, which are a little darker than the general tint, lower jaw white. In most specimens there is a white spot under the throat, and in all that we have seen, a longitudinal white stripe on the breast between the fore-legs, much wider in some specimens than in others; tail, darkest toward the end; for an inch or two from the tip it is often very dark- brown or black. There are some striking and permanent varieties of the Mink, both in size and colour. We possess a specimen from Canada, which is consid- erably darker than those of the United States. Its tail is an inch longer than usual, and the white markings on its throat and chest are much narrower and less conspicuous than in most individuals of this species. In other respects we can see no difference. In the Southern salt-water marshes this species is considerably larger in size, the white markings on the chin and under surface are broader, the hair is much coarser, the colour lighter, and the tail less bushy, than in Northern specimens. Those, however, which we obtained on the head waters of the Edisto river are as dark as specimens from Pennsylvania and New-York. Along the mountain streams of the Northern and Middle States, we have often met with another species of Mink considerably smaller and darker than those found on large water-courses or around mill-ponds. This species was figured in the illustrations of our large edition, without distinguishing it from the lower figure on the plate, which represents the common species. We shall introduce a separate figure of it in the present work. DIMENSIONS. 13 inches. 7 do. 8 do. Another specimen. Length from point of nose to root of tail Length of head and body “ tail (vertebrae) “ tail, to end of fur 14 do.