DISTRIBUTION AND HABITS OF THE SKUNK. 215 



suoli unique powers is seen not so much in mode of life as in 

 the actual disposition of the creature. Its heedless familiarity, 

 its temerity in pushing into places which other animals in- 

 stinctively avoid as dangerous, and its indisposition to seek 

 safety by hasty retreat, are evident results of its confidence in 

 the extraordinary means of defence with which it is provided. 

 In speculating upon the development of this anal armature to 

 a degree which renders it subservient to purposes for which 

 the glands of other MusteluKV, though of similar character, are 

 manifestly inadequate, it may not be amiss to recall how de- 

 fenceless the Skunk would otherwise be in comparison with its 

 allies. A tardy terrestrial animal of no great strength or spirit, 

 lacking the sagacity and prowess of the Wolverene, the scan- 

 sorial ability of the Martens, the agility, small size, and 

 tenuity of body of the Weasels, the swimming and diving 

 powers of the Otters, and even much of the eminent fossorial 

 capacity of its nearest relations, the Badgers— lacking all these 

 qualities, which in their several exhibitions conduce to the 

 safety of the respective species, it is evident that additional 

 means of self-protection were required ', while the abundance 

 of the animal in most parts of the country, and its audacity in 

 the face of danger, show that its confidence in the singular 

 means of defence it possesses is not misplaced. 



GeograpJiical distribution and habits of the Skunk. 



Leaving now that portion of the subject which is properly 

 most prominent in the history of the species of this subfamily, 

 we may turn to other matters. Skunks are common in most 

 portions of temperate North America, and very abundant in 

 some districts. I am not aware that any qualification of the 

 broad statement of their general distribution in this country is 

 required ; for the animals seem to be independent of those 

 matters of physical geography, such as mountain or valley, 

 woodland or prairie, which impose restrictions upon the distri- 

 bution of many quadrupeds. Skunks, moreover, are obviously 

 less affected by the settlement of a country than the more 

 defenceless, wary, and instinctively secretive carnivores, which 

 are sure to be thinned out and gradually forced away by the 

 progress of civilization. In some parts of the West, indeed, I 

 have found Skunks more numerous in the vicinity of the sparse 

 settlements than they are in regions still primitive; they seem 

 to be actually attracted to man's abodes, like some other quad- 



