The Skunk 37 
means he often succeeds in evading his worst enemies, 
dog and man. One day I came upon a skunk in a 
ploughed field. He at once began to burrow into the 
soil, and in three minutes, was out of sight; later 
he emerged some fifteen feet from the spot where he 
had disappeared. 
Contrary to what we should expect, the burrow of 
the skunk is usually free from the odor of the essence, 
particularly when the young are helpless. The 
natural odor of the body, also, is far less noticeable 
than that of either the woodchuck or the opossum. 
The abode is frequently changed, but is usually 
located near the edge of the woods. As cold weather 
approaches these changes become less frequent, espe- 
cially with the old skunks, and they settle upon a 
permanent abode to which, in preparation for winter 
hibernation, they carry for a bed quite a quantity of 
dried grass and leaves. 
This “holing up,” or hibernation, becomes more 
marked as we go farther north, the degree of hiberna- 
tion corresponding with the severity of the winter. 
The period of inactivity is broken several times 
during the season, when the weather becomes mild 
for two or three days at a time. Such times are 
known among the trappers as a “skunk-run,’’ and 
are likely to occur during January thaws, and 
