230 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



fox, or badger, which makes short work of poor 

 bunny, and, I hope, is properly grateful to the 

 providence that thus sends a meal home in its 

 original package. 



Reptiles, also, form a share of the skunk's sub- 

 sistence, toads, frogs, salmanders, serpents, and 

 the like. Dr. Abbott says that the skunks in New 

 Jersey are very partial to the last-named. " When 

 pressed by hunger, and hunting by daylight," he 

 tells us, in his " Rambles about Home," the skunk 

 prefers to go after snakes rather than to seek 

 frogs or risk himself within the poultry-yard. 



" Indeed, small snakes are evidently a great 

 dainty, and the skunk appears to be more active 

 when he finds a garter-snake, blind-worm, or flat- 

 head adder, than at any other time. Having dis- 

 covered a snake, he rises upon his hind feet, and, 

 giving a bear-like apology for a dance, he endeav- 

 ors to seize the snake by the tail. If successful, 

 he shakes the snake vigorously, as a dog would do, 

 and seizing it, when dead or nearly so, he carries 

 it off to his burrow, or to a hollow log, or to what- 

 ever shelter he has at the time." 



Of this behavior Dr. Abbott cites the following 

 remarkable instance : 



" In June, 1863, I witnessed a terrific combat be- 

 tween a large skunk and a black snake, which, I 

 judge, measured fully five feet in length. The 

 prowling skunk had evidently seized the snake by 

 the tail, and endeavored to give it a violent shake, 



