t it is almost, if not quite, exterminated in
some townships where it was formerly common. The mink is not so
perfectly aquatic as the otter, but it also travels on land quite fast
and far. I have found them a half-mile from water hunting for mice,
birds, and even cottontails. I once shot one in Lodi Township that came
to the chicken house and killed a fully grown hen, which it dragged a
rod or so away, where it ate all it wanted. Another time I followed on
the snow one that had run five miles in a night, and finally found it
only a short distance from the place it started from. The mink is
generally nocturnal, but I have often found it out on dark days. Once
while fishing I saw one catch and carry away a good-sized trout. It is a
poor climber, but once while hunting raccoons a dog chased one up a
tree, where it was shot from a limb 20 feet above the ground. Albinos
are rare, but we have in the Museum collections a mounted specimen which
was taken at Ann Arbor. Melanistic specimens are rarer still, and I have
seen but one, which was caught in Lodi Township in 1875.

_Mephitis nigra._ Eastern Skunk.--The skunk was common when the first
settlers arrived in this county. With the clearing of the forests it
became abundant. Altogether I have seen hundreds about my old home in
Lodi Township. Here in one winter, about 1870, more than 30 were taken
in one trap under an old barn.

Although it usually passes most of the winter months in a state of
hibernation, it occasionally comes out during warm spells and wanders
from one den to another. I have seen its tracks every winter month. It
is mainly nocturnal, but it also travels in the early evening and later
morning, and I once saw a mother and six young pass through the dooryard
just at dusk. The skunk is not a climber, as a rule, but I have found it
a few feet up the inside of small hollow trees. Once I saw one enter a
small stream and swim across; it was not forced, but went into the water
of its own volition.

_Taxidea taxus taxus._ Badger.--The early settlers state that the badger
was found in this county, but was not common. We have records from 1883
to 1919, including Saline Township, Superior Township, Lyndon Township,
Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Bass Lake. The species hibernates, but I have
known it to come out on the snow, and I have records for every winter
month.

_Lutra canadensis canadensis._ Canada Otter.--Formerly the otter was not
rare in all the river systems of t