HUNTING THE SKUNK. 333 



TIIE SKUNK. 



eighteen inches ; its legs are short, and its body broad and flat ; 

 scarcely two of them are colored alike, but they generally are 

 black or brown, with white spots or stripes. In its "appetite foi 

 petty carnages, it emulates any of the tribe ; but what renders it 

 chiefly remarkable, is the fetid odor which it discharges upon 

 its assailants when attacked, who, be they men or dogs, as soon as 

 they find this extraordinary battery played off against them, in- 

 stantly turn tail and leave the animal undisputed master of the 

 field, glad to escape from the intolerable stench, perhaps smarting 

 with pain, if the approach be too near, so as to* allow a drop of 

 the pestilent fluid to strike the eye. The hunting of the skunk is 

 not a favorite sport. It is usually shot, whenever discovered fcy 

 the farmers, whose poultry he is very muck addicted to stealing 



