272 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



enough only to keep out dogs and other dis- 

 turbers. The breeding-cages should have hol- 

 low logs or underground vaults of stone or con- 

 crete as nesting-dens; and all retiring-quarters 

 must be roofed with a stout wire mesh to pro- 

 tect the occupants from great horned owls the 

 skunk's worst enemy big dogs and other ma- 

 rauders. 



If the skunks are not frightened by rough 

 treatment there is little or no danger from the 

 musk-gun an instrument kept as a last resort ; 

 in fact captive skunks easily become docile and 

 often affectionate and amusing pets. The best 

 way to kill them, when that sad necessity arises, 

 is by smothering with illuminating gas or some 

 similar agent, or by drowning. The finest, 

 blackest specimens should be selected for keep- 

 ing as breeders, the less white on a pelt the 

 more valuable it is. It might be possible, in a 

 few generations, to get a strain that should be 

 wholly black. 



