94 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917 



for it. However, within a week he began to drink milk after the 

 manner of a house cat. 



One activity that furnished much amusement while he was still 

 small was to give him an egg on the grassy lawn. He knew the 

 egg contained food but all efforts to crush the shell were futile 

 and this caused him much displeasure; his game of egg-ball 

 afforded him more entertainment than enjoyment. 



It is well known that skunks dig up lawns in search of white 

 grubs but the manner in which these morsels are located was 

 interesting to see. The front feet were used to part the grass and 

 scratch the earth along a narrow path while the animal slowly 

 backed tip keeping his nose held close to the fresh earth thus 

 exposed. In this manner three or foiu* feet might be imcovered 

 before finding the right spot to dig. 



De Sachet's most comical activity was barbering woolly-bear 

 caterpillars, for evidently skunks are fond of all caterpillars, but 

 do not like their dainty morsel fur coated. When he foiind 

 one of these little hurried travellers, he would seize it and knead 

 it under his front paws, which he moved with great rapidity. 

 Meanwhile he would look aroimd as if interested in the scenery, 

 like a boy nonchalantly twirhng his thumbs, apparently giving 

 no attention to his whirhng paws or the unfortunate caterpillar, 

 which was rolled over and over at a rate that must have made it 

 die of dizziness rather than because it was crushed. One day we 

 placed De Sachet on a newspaper while he rolled a caterpillar, 

 and when he got through, the poor shorn insect was still squirming, 

 though as bare as an earthworm; and the amount of hair and 

 fuzz of various lengths left on the newspaper gave us a new respect 

 for the furs worn by the woolly-bear. Sometimes De Sachet 

 would make a slip and the caterpillar would be flung a few inches 

 to one side, but would quickly be recovered. The closeness of 

 the shave he gave his victims depended upon the degree of his 

 hunger. 



I was much surprised one afternoon when De Sachet found a • 

 bumblebee's nest at the foot of a fence post where he had been 

 tied. What fears I had for my pet were shortly dispelled when he 

 began to dig into the nest and seize the bees with avidity. The 

 contents of the nest kept him busy for some time but later other 

 bees returned to attack the intruder from the rear. As a safe- 

 guard De Sachet kept his tail waving over his back and it was this 



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