Mink
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Mink. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a valuable fur-bearing animal belonging to the weasel family. The American mink is much larger than a weasel. Its body is about eighteen inches long, the tail about six. It is one of the most valuable North American fur animals. It is yet trapped systematically in the Hudson Bay country. Like the otter, it lives in ponds, rivers, and their banks, but feeds on a less exclusive fish diet. It is fond of fish and pursues them with great skill, but it is quite as well satisfied with a muskrat, a grouse, or a quail. The mink is quite an adept at concealing itself in the bank of a stream in well settled countries, and is given to visiting the poultry yard at night. It is dreaded especially on account of a bloodthirsty habit of cutting the throats of fowls, destroying oftentimes several valuable birds in a single night. Some attempts have been made to breed it for its fur. It has its full share of the musky odor which pervades the weasel family. The mink is literally "as quick as a weasel," which is saying a good deal. In running, the mink plants its hind feet in the tracks of its fore feet so that its track in the snow has the appearance of being made by an animal hopping along on two feet. A raw mink pelt is worth from five to fifteen dollars according to season and current demand. See Fur
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a popular name for several species of the genus Putorius, which are found in the N. parts of both hemispheres, and are valuable as fur-producis the Euing animals. P. lutreola is the European, and P. vison the American mink. The body is stouter than that of a stoat or weasel, and from 15 to 18 inches long. The color varies from dull yellowishbrown to dark chocolate brown; the upper lip is usually white in the European, dark in the American species. It is mostly found in northern and southern parts of the United States, and successful attempts have been made to breed the mink on farms.