The Mephitic Skunk. 1 2 1 



at home, I went out to where the dogs, twelve in 

 number, were sleeping : while I stood there a 

 skunk appeared and deliberately came towards 

 me, passing through the dogs where they lay, 

 and one by one as he passed them they rose 

 up, and, with their tails between their legs, 

 skulked off. "When made to kill skunks often 

 they become seasoned ; but always perform the 

 loathsome task expeditiously, then rush away with 

 frothing mouths to rub their faces in the wet 

 clay and rid themselves of the fiery sensation. At 

 one time I possessed only one dog that could be 

 made to face a skunk, and as the little robbers were 

 very plentiful, and continually coming about the 

 house in their usual open, bold way, it was rather 

 hard for the poor brute. This dog detested them 

 quite as strongly as the others, only he was more 

 obedient, faithful, and brave. Whenever I bade 

 him attack one of them he would come close up to 

 me and look up into my face with piteous pleading 

 eyes, then, finding that he was not to be let off from 

 the repulsive task, he would charge upon the doomed 

 animal with a blind fury wonderful to see. Seizing 

 it between his teeth, he would shake it madly, 

 crushing its bones, then hurl it several feet from 

 him, only to rush again and again upon it to repeat 

 the operation, doubtless with a Caligula-like wish in 

 his frantic breast that all the skunks on tho globe 

 had but one backbone. 



I was once on a visit to a sheep-farming brother, 

 far away on the southern frontier of Buenos Ayres, 

 and amongst the dogs I found there was one most 

 interesting creature. He was a great, lumbering, 



