viii THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 231 



as it would a little garter-snake. This angered the 

 snake, and, turning like lightning, he wrapped 

 himself about the skunk, completely encircling 

 both neck and body. The head was so far free 

 that the skunk could give the snake nip after nip, 

 though it could not get a strong enough hold to 

 disable it. Rolling over and over, hissing and 

 snapping, the snake nearly concealed by the long 

 hair of the skunk, the two creatures presented a 

 strange spectacle as they struggled, the one to 

 conquer, the other to escape. After watching 

 them for fully five minutes, I ventured to approach, 

 and dealt the two a hard blow with a club, and 

 then ran back a few paces, not knowing what 

 might be the result. Turning about, I ventured 

 to return part of the way, to see whether the 

 struggle continued. All was comparatively quiet, 

 and coming still nearer, I found that the snake had 

 relinquished his hold, and was slowly retiring in 

 a disabled condition. The skunk was lying quite 

 motionless, and proved to be dying, though not 

 dead. Soon after, I examined the animal carefully, 

 and found that it had been strangled or nearly so. 

 During this combat there was no discharge of the 

 defensive glands of the skunk." 



Unfortunately the skunk has also a strong taste 

 for birds and birds' eggs, and undoubtedly de- 

 stroys large numbers of the eggs and young of 

 ground-nesting birds : it digs up and eats snakes' 

 and tortoises' eggs. Dr. J. K. Lord, whose book 



