CATALOGUE OF VERTEBRATES. 511 



" Not now abundant, although still found in the central 

 counties of the State, but in the northern and southern sections 

 they are still quite numerous. A water-loving animal, it is 

 generally found about the banks and on the small islands of 

 creeks and ponds, but occasionally in swamps, where there is but 

 little running water. A creek traversing a thickly-grown maple 

 and birch swamp is ever a favorite locality. About the Assan- 

 pink Creek they were, twenty-five years ago, very common, and 

 a few still are found, this creek being the principal locality for 

 them in the central third of the State. Otters live almost wholly 

 on fish, and are nearly as much at home in the water as their 

 prey. During the annual spring freshets the otter is very fre- 

 quently carried down the river from its haunts, and in this way 

 otters have made their appearance about Trenton and about New 

 Brunswick, creating for a time no little excitement until they are 

 captured, when the ' strange visitor ' of the local columns of our 

 papers proves to be an otter." 



MEPHITIS, Guv. 

 M. mephitica, Shaw. Skunk. 



Usually black, with tip of tail, the dorsal stripes and neck 

 patch white; but it may be all black or sometimes nearly white. 

 " Is not very abundant in any portion of the State, nor yet 

 entirely wanting in the fauna of any county. It appears to prefer 

 farms to uncultivated tracts, and yet is always found to live 

 in timber land. Any small strip of heavy timber, within half 

 a mile of a farm-house, very generally harbors at least one 

 skunk. Occasionally they take up their abode in winter in a 

 haymow, and a ruining of the hay is apt to be a consequence. 

 They prey upon poultry occasionally, but are not very destruc- 

 tive in this respect. The skunk is nocturnal, or in a measure 

 so, in its habits, prowling about during the dusk of the evening, 

 and into the night when moonlight. In the northern counties 

 of the State they do not appear to be as frequently met with as 

 in the central and southern sections. Judging from old records, 

 they were formerly very abundant, and looked upon as destruc- 

 tive." 



