Tllli SKUNK. 309 



the neck; on each side of the vertcbnc of the tail tlicrc is a wliite 

 longitudinal stripe, and the tail is broadly lipped with white; on every 

 otlier part of the body the color is blackish-brown. 



The Skunk is neither shy nor timid, and walks slowly as if conscious 

 that nothing dare molest it. Wlien surprised, it quickly makes use of 

 its natural weapon of defence, and generally to the discomfiture of its 

 enemy. 



" It happened in our early school-boy days," writes Audubon, " that 

 we ol)served in our path a pretty little animal, playful as ;i kitten, throw- 

 ing up its busily tail, and seetiiingly (iesinms to keep c(jinjjany with us. 

 It makes no effort to escape, we run towards it, it waits for us, and raises 

 its tail as if inviting us to take hold of its brush. We seize it instanter, 

 and grasp it with the energy of a miser clutching a box of diamonds, a 

 short struggle ensues, when — faugh ! we are suffocated, our eyes, nose, 

 and face arc suddenly Ijcspattered with the nifist horribly fetid Ikiid ! " 

 The oflensive odor often produces sickness and vomiting, and is of an 

 acrid character. Ur. Richardson states that he knew several Indians 

 who lost their eyesight in consequence of the inflammation produced by 

 it. A dog, when he has received the discharge, seems half distracted, 

 plunging his nose into the earth and rolling in every direction, and the 

 eyes have been swollen and inflamed for a week afterward. The vSkunk 

 can eject this nauseous fluid with unerring aim to a distance of upwards 

 of fourteen feet; it is a thin transparent fluid scarcely visible by day, but 

 at night resembles an attenuated stream of ]jliosphoric light. Every- 

 thing on which it falls is tainted for a considerable time, if not forever; 

 clothes that nave once been infected will, after every effort has been 

 made to purify them, give out the sickening effluviuin if the wearer in- 

 cautiously comes near the fire. It has been sometimes used as a medicine 

 in cases of asthma, but the verdict of the patient generally is, that the 

 remedy is worse than the disease. 



The Skunk has a bad character among the farmers, and destroys 

 aargc numbers of eggs, but he is too clumsy to do much damage. 



The burrows of the Skunk are found on a flat surface, and seldom 

 possess more than one entrance ; the gallery runs about seven or eight 

 feet in a straight line, about two feet beneath the surface, and ends in a 

 large excavation cf)ntaining an immense nest of leaves. During winter, 

 five to fifteen individuals may be found in these burrows ready to defend 

 themselves by the means with which Nature has provided them. 



