112 SKUNKS AQUATIC. 



frequently a murmuring noise, as an acknowledg- 

 ment of gratitude for the luxury it enjoyed. 



To the traveller, especially when he ventures 

 beyond the regions to which civilisation has pene- 

 trated, and wanders in those unreclaimed lands 

 where temporary residences of bark or boughs of 

 trees are the only shelter obtainable, the skunks 

 become a great plague, for during the night they 

 will enter into these extemporised dwellings, and 

 steal, eat, or gnaw whatever is found within reach ; 

 and if they should be detected and suddenly alarmed 

 or disturbed, they will discharge their liquid defence 

 right and left, making a change of quarters to the 

 residents not only desirable but imperative. 



Although it is not a generally acknowledged fact, 

 skunks are aquatic, and betake themselves to the 

 water if it becomes necessary for them to do so in 

 order to obtain their food. I obtained this informa- 

 tion, as many travellers and naturalists before me 

 have discovered the phenomena of Nature, by having 

 it thrust under my observation, at the very moment 

 when I was least expecting any such addition to my 

 store of knowledge. 



In Minnesota, that charming Western State where 

 wood and water appear equally divided, where winter 

 is cold, but dry and pleasant, where summer possesses 

 neither the fevered heat of the South, nor the change- 

 able temperature of the Northern Atlantic seaboard, 

 I was encamped with a companion on a small lake, 

 picturesque as the fancy of the most imaginative 



