Skunk 



Catching grasshoppers in the hot sunshine of mid-summer is 

 not by any means an easy tasic, but by moonlight or the early 

 gray of the morning while the grass is heavy with dew it is 

 more like picking strawberries than hunting. 



As the season wears on the nights grow longer and the 

 dew heavier, while the grasshoppers and crickets get bigger and 

 more sluggish. By the last of October the skunks go rolling 

 and tottering about on feet that are apparently much too small and 

 much too close together to support them comfortably, the creature's 

 anatomical structure being still like that of the other weasels 

 and scarcely fitted for carrying such a load of fat with ease and 

 dignity. 



By the time the supply of insect food comes to an end the 

 skunk finds himself quite unfitted to engage in more active 

 hunting, so he proceeds to look up a suitable underground 

 retreat in which to pass the winter. If his summer home has 

 been in the woods, then the same burrow which he has been 

 occupying is all that is required; and if, as is usually the case, 

 he is still living with his family, numbering perhaps six or eight 

 members, they all turn in together and sleep for weeks or even 

 months. 



Those that have passed the warm season in the open, 

 where the ground freezes too deeply to be comfortable in winter, are 

 under the necessity of looking up lodgings in the woods before 

 the snow comes. 



It often happens that such a family will hit upon a hole 

 already occupied, and the two families, aggregating a dozen or 

 more individuals, will pass the cold season together in perfect 

 harmony. 



The original occupants, if they are sufficiently awake to 

 realize anything, are probably glad of the additional warmth 

 contributed by the new comers. 



Skunks are easily the most abundant of all our carni- 

 vora, yet I have never seen more than five or six, all told, out 

 of their own accord in the daytime. In the evening, particu- 

 larly in warm weather, it is common enough to see them 

 moving about in the uncertain light with the leisurely, unhurried 

 manner which they usually affect. 



Generally there are very few skunks awake in December 

 and January. In some seasons I have tramped the woods daily 



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